Guardian Angel
by Danasca
Summary: Everybody has heard of a guardian angel and Naruto believes he doesn't have one. Even if he did, i doubt he expected his guardian angel to have no skin and be a harvester of souls.
1. Chapter 1

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: I really shouldn't do this but, well, I've got the itch to rite a new one! Sigh, one of my stories is gonna fall behind at some point but at least I'm entertaining. Anyway, Everyone has a guardian angel, but did you ever wonder what KIND of angel it was? Naruto never did, but he does know it wealds a scythe and has no skin.**

He watched on with fearful eyes as they descended upon him. His cerulean eyes filled with fear as they attacked him mercilessly with bottles, knives and anything that could cut, bruise or break. He screamed, hoping they'd leave him alone, but they hadn't left him alone for what was it? 8 years? No, they just kept coming to beat him to death until his adoptive grandfather or those ninja in the white masks came to stop them.

"Die Demon!"

"This is for my family!" another shouted. He felt a bottle shatter against his head and he knew he'd be trying to get the smell of liquor and fragments of glass out of his spiky blonde hair for weeks to come. What else was new?

Suddenly a shinobi with a white porcelain mask appeared in the crowd, making the villagers immediately back off. "This has gone on long enough!" roared the ninja, causing the mob to shake in fear.

The blonde boy just sighed in relief. He got off easy this year, last time they'd put him in the hospital with amputated limbs. He still didn't understand how he lived through that, but just chalked it up to Kami enjoying watching him suffer. Oh how wrong he was!

"By order of the hokage, you are sentenced to death!" stated the ANBU as he drew his blade. Once the blade was fully revealed, the ninja whirled around and put deep gash in the small boy's chest, much to the surprise of both the mob and Naruto. Only difference is one side was cheering while the other had hard time breathing.

Gasping for air, Naruto saw the blade come towards him gain, only this time to cleave his head off. At first Naruto was afraid but then, an eerie sense of calm came over him. Oddly enough, the blonde's thoughts went to something he had heard a long time ago, about how everyone has an angel that watches over and protects them.

'_Heh, like anyone would bother to help the demon child, guess this is it'_ thought the blonde with a dark sense of humor. Imagine his surprise when a six-foot tall scythe with a mahogany pole and a four foot long black blade appeared and caught the sword in the curve where the pole met the inner blade.

"Terribly sorry sir, but I can't have you killing my young charge here," said a posh and polite voice. Surprised the boy looked up to see a figure with a black tattered robe holding the scythe in a bony white hand. Upon closer inspection, the blonde realized that it was an actual skeleton hand!

The figure looked down and stared at the child with its one blue eye gazing out of it's left eye socket, a necklace of purple prayer beads hanging from its neck. The boy couldn't believe that a skeleton with one blue eye, a scythe and black tattered robe, was in fact saving him.

"Hello there Naruto-kun, sorry I'm late but the gods can only work so fast," stated the skeleton that Naruto guessed was male.

"Who are you?" demanded the ANBU.

The skeleton looked up at him at that, "Hm? Oh! Right, well my name is Sir Fredrick Huxley the Third, a Reaper for Lords Shinigami and Kami-sama," stated the revealed Soul Harvester with a modest bow.

"Are you here to take away the demon?" asked a villager hopefully. This was met with roars of approval while Fredrick looked confused.

"If you mean the Kyuubi inside this boy then no," answered the skeleton, shocking the crap out of Naruto. "I am merely here to lend a hand as both a trainer and guardian to Naruto Uzumaki here," finished the Reaper as he happily patted the boy on the head. Now Naruto was confused about two things, one being why would a reaper defend him and be happy about it, and what the hell did he mean when he said the Kyuubi was INSIDE him?

At this the entire mob and ANBU just gawked before rage flooded them again. "Kill them both!" roared a villager. With that the group charged forward, weapons brandished and howling for blood.

Fredrick frowned at them, his one eye scrunching up in annoyance. "Fools," he muttered, raising his scythe in hi left hand, the Reaper held it in a cross slash position with the left hand while the other did some one handed seals. "Death's Art Dark Harvest," he announced. The blade on the scythe glowed with a whitish blue flame in response. The villagers and one ANBU stopped in surprise of the blade, and that hesitation cost them their lives.

The scythe came down in a cross slash, and those who were in range of the blade, got a quick death, their very souls being sucked into the blade while the fire turned their bodies to ash, the rest burned to death in the white flames, for as the blade cam down, the flames had spread out in a wave towards them.

Naruto watched in awe as the flames consumed his would be attackers. Once it was over, leaving behind only scorch marks and ashes, the young blonde could only look up at the skeleton that towered over him. Shifting his gaze to the scythe, the boy noticed that at first glance, it seemed rather plain but when you actually looked at it, you could see some sort of movement inside the blade and how the staff seemed to pulse ever so slightly.

Snapping his gaze away, Naruto noticed that the reaper had said something to him and was waiting patiently for a response "Um, sorry what was that?" asked Naruto sheepishly. Fredrick just chuckled in response.

"I said, Perhaps it would be best to go speak with your hokage. Besides, I was ordered to go straight to him as soon as I came here and made sure you were safe for the time being," stated the decayed corpse politely. "Now as it stands, the best method to get their would not be by foot, correct?" getting a sad nod and sigh from Naruto the Huxley corpse made a humming sound while tapping his chin. Sapping his fingers the skeleton gave a satisfied nod.

"Tell me Naruto, have you ever flown before?" at Naruto's wide-eyed expression, Fredrick just chuckled. "Then take my hand and hold on my boy!" exclaimed Fredrick as he grabbed the boy's hand. Naruto was surprised when he felt the bone and didn't feel the icy chill of death but rather, the warmth of a normal human. He was more surprised however when skeleton wings burst from Fredrick's back, an inky black membrane connecting the lengths of bone to allow for flight. Before Naruto could comment on the wings, Fredrick leapt into the air already taking flight.

At first, Naruto panicked and started to scream but after the first few seconds he began to enjoy it. He specially enjoyed it when Fredrick started to do barrel rolls and loops just to entertain him, however that all came to an end when Naruto pointed out the tower.

"There's Oji-san's tower Fredrick-san!" Naruto shouted to his new guardian.

"Right then, now do you see any open windows?" asked the skeleton.

The blonde squinted and shouted out, "Yeah! That one is open! And I think it's oji-san's office too!"

"Ok Naruto-kun, now, um, you may want to brace yourself, its been awhile since I've flown and even longer since I've landed," stated the skeleton as it dived towards the window.

Naruto just nodded excitedly before he actually registered what the third Fredrick Huxley just said. He blinked once, then screamed, "WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

**Hokage's office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime hokage of Konoha, village hidden in the leaves. He had survived not one ninja war, but two and had earned the nickname the Professor and Kami no Shinobi, god of ninja due to his mastery of techniques. He was old now, but that didn't mean he couldn't kick a person's ass six ways from Sunday! There was only one enemy no man, nor god, could defeat though, not utterly and completely anyway. That one enemy is paperwork.

Yes my friends, paperwork is

Fortunately though, Hiruzen had somehow completed the paperwork for today and was quietly relaxing by reading a certain little orange book, small perverted giggles escaping him every few minutes and a small trickle of blood coming from his nose. He was perfectly content with his day, no paperwork, his surrogate grandson wasn't reported to have been attacked and there was nothing strange happening.

'_Ah, nothing could ruin this day'_ thought the hokage as he blushed profusely when he read a particularly naughty paragraph. "Oh, Akiko you are such a naughty girl," giggled the old man. He stopped though, when he started to hear very familiar screaming.

Putting away his book the hokage stood up and added some chakra to his ear to improve his sense of sound. Hiruzen definitely knew who's scream that was now, it was definitely Naruto's. While normally he would have panicked and immediately rushed to help him, he stopped because the scream was getting steadily louder and coming from not the ground, but from above!

Moving to the window, the hokage saw a fast approaching orange and black blob. Squinting, Sarutobi could just make out and orange jumpsuit with blonde hair. He could also swear he could see a screaming one-eyed skeleton in a black robe also hurtling towards him. "Naruto?" he questioned to himself. Then seeing the actual landing point of the two figures, Hiruzen leaped out of the way to avoid becoming the landing target of the two creatures that came through the window with a mighty crash.

Groaning Naruto got up rubbing his head before he glared angrily at his skeletal protector. "That freaking hurt!" he yelled.

"Sorry, but I take full blame for our landing," Huxley stated sheepishly.

"The landing? What about the freaking window! I think some glass shards got caught in my throat!" Naruto accused.

"I refuse to take the blame for the window! You were the one that said it was open!" Fredrick shot back.

"Then why didn't you pull up when you saw it was closed!" shouted the blonde

"I'm over a thousand years old and I only have one eye boy! ONE! My vision isn't exactly perfect!" the skeleton shot back angrily.

"Then why did you suggest we fly baka-gaikotsu!" Naruto accused.

"Excuse me for wanting to be nice you ungrateful cur! I remember a time when people would give an arm and a leg to experience what you did!"

"What? Near death?"

""Why you little-!"

"I'm not little!"

"Could have fooled me you canary bottom color haired gnome!"

"What the heck is a gnome? If you're going to insult me do it with words I understand you one eyed klutz!"

"ENOUGH!" barked out Sarutobi, flaring his impressive chakra, which immediately make both bickerers cry out in fear before sitting on the floor and clutching each other, both eyeing the now intimidating hokage with shaking bodies and chattering teeth. The hokage sweatdropped at this before sighing and putting his chakra back to normal levels, "Now could someone please tell me what is going on?" he asked.

Fredrick chuckled a bit before standing up. "I believe I can do that," he stated, "My name is Fredrick Huxley the Third and I have been sent here by both Shinigami-sama and Kami-sama to watch over and train Naruto Uzumaki, due to the simple fact that if he doesn't learn to defend himself and some proper training in self defense, the Kyuubi is going to act as will every Kitsune under her command," stated the skeleton seriously.

Silence. Then, "NANI!"" from both Sarutobi and Naruto.

"What exactly are you talking about?" Hiruzen asked the reaper. Fredrick sighed before he seemed to sit in the air, his scythe set over his lap. He gestured for the others to sit as well.

"You may wish to take a seat for this is going to be a bit hard to comprehend and it really is quite the tale," stated the angel of death. After the other two male had taken a seat Fredrick began, "First off, I guess you could say I'm Naruto's guardian angel…"

**A/N: Read and Review, and I may or not continue this, so eh… Ja ne!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Time to get this second chapter started! Danasca writing style: Second chapter!**

"Wait what exactly do you mean guardian angel?" interrupted the hokage.

Fredrick sighed, "It is rude to interrupt someone when they're talking young man," Fredrick reprimanded the old man.

"I am not a young man," Sarutobi protested.

The skeleton just glared at the old man, "I am over one THOUSAND years old while you are a mere sixty years of age, maybe a little older so be silent and I will explain everything," Fredrick barked. Sarutobi shut up at that while Naruto chuckled at the fact his grandfather got called a child and his guardian was grumbling about impatient youths.

"Anyway, as I have said, I was sent here by the gods Kami and Shinigami to defend this child for several reasons," Fredrick started.

"First, they are disgusted with the way you are treating this boy, especially his father," here Hiruzen gulped slightly at that while Naruto got a wide eyed look, "We realize that shunning and some assassination attempts coupled with a few mobs are a regular occurrence with jinchuuriki, but this village has gone above and beyond in their hatred for his tenant, do you even know how many times his life has been in jeopardy?" asked the reaper. Before Sarutobi could respond the skeleton yelled angrily, "718! Over seven hundred attempts have been made on his life in the past 8 years and he isn't even a shinobi yet! There have been more attempts on his life than any political figure or legendary warrior to date! It's surprising he's still alive due to the fact each and every attempt has put him near death! If it were not for the Kyuubi inside him, Naruto Uzumaki would have died in the first month of his life!" shouted Huxley, shocking everyone in the room, even the hidden ANBU.

"second, the Kitsune are fed up with the treatment of their leader's vessel!" here an uneasy look crossed Sarutobi's face while Naruto once again became confused.

"What does that mean exactly?" Naruto piped up. Fredrick turned to him confused.

"It's nothing Naruto," Hiruzen stated.

"No!" Naruto shouted, "Fredrick keeps saying I'm a vessel for something, and now you're saying its nothing! I want to know whats going on NOW!" demanded the blonde, 8 years of fury now ready to burst from his tiny body.

"You didn't even tell him?" asked Huxley now completely shocked. "Why would you not tell someone they have the strongest of the Bijuu in them? I understand not telling the public at large, but not telling the person who holds the demon?

Are you insane?" screamed a frantic Fredrick.

"It was to protect him!" Sarutobi shot at the undead human.

"From what?" demanded the reaper.

"From going insane!" stated Hiruzen.

"And the constant torture from this village coupled with him not knowing why wouldn't? If the boy had known at least he would have been able to understand why!"

"WOULD SOMEBODY JUST TELL ME WHATS GOING ON?" roared Naruto, releasing enough killing intent to cause several citizens in the tower to nearly have a heart attack and surprise everyone in the room.

Fredrick and Sarutobi shared a quick glance before Hiruzen started to speak, "Naruto, have you been told the story of when the Kyuubi attacked eight years ago?" asked the old man.

"Um, I think so…" started the blonde before realization lit up in his eyes. "Oh yeah! The Kyuubi came and went on a rampage that destroyed a good portion of Konoha before it was defeated by the fourth hokage Minato Namikaze!" Naruto said with admiration on his voice. The admiration made Sarutobi cringe slightly.

"Correct Naruto, but do you know HOW the hokage beat the Kyuubi?" asked the old man. Naruto took up a thinking pose, one hand on his chin and his eyes shut with his brows furrowed. After a time Naruto shook his head no in an imitation of a dog shaking itself dry. "Naruto, you can't kill a bijuu, they are essentially nothing more than living chakra that can manifest itself into physical forms, so the only true way to beat the Kyuubi was for the Yondaime to seal it,"

Naruto blinked at this new information. "So what did he seal it-"

"Her," Fredrick interrupted, "Kyuubi is a female,"

Blinking again, the boy just shrugged. What was it to him if the Kyuubi was male or female? Its not like it would affect him in any way right? "Anyway, so what was she sealed into?" asked the boy.

"Not what, who," Sarutobi responded crypticly. "No mere object can hold the Kyuubi, not for long anyway. So to make sure the fox stayed in its jail, Minato sealed the child into a newborn child, it's umbilical cord freshly cut," here he paused before leveling a stare at the boy, "The Kyuubi attacked on October 10th eight years ago, and you, Naruto Uzumaki, were born mere seconds before its attack," Sarutobi let the information sink in while Naruto's eyes widened in horrid understanding.

"The fox was sealed into me," the blonde whispered as the weight of the information fully hit him. The names, they made sense. The glares, they were understandable and the beatings… were they justifiable? Looking up, Naruto saw sadness, regret and worry mirrored in the eyes of Sarutobi while worry and curiosity was mirrored in Fredrick's single blue eye. Slowly, Naruto asked his question, "So are, t-the villagers a-are they right?" asked the boy, his voice shaky and stuttering, "Were those beatings…" here he trailed off and tried to hold in his tears.

"Naruto, look at us," Fredrick commanded the boy gently while drifting over to stand by Sarutobi. Naruto complied and looked up at the two older beings, "The villagers are blinded by a hatred that is justifiable but in no way are they right to treat you the way they do. You are innocent of the fox's crimes and they should know that if you continue to beat away at the damn that holds back the flood, it will burst sooner or later,"

"You mean if they keep attacking him the seal will break?" asked Sarutobi quickly, a slight panic in his voice.

"Only if he dies, but considering his clan's regenerative skills and with Kyuubi-sama inside him, Naruto will prove to be quite tough to kill and if he masters what I intend to teach him, he'll never die in battle," commented Fredrick. "Besides, if those villagers keep attacking him, the other Kitsune will put a permanent stop to it and take him away, to insure their master's wish is held,"

"Wish?" queried the hokage.

"Yes, Kyuubi wishes to repent for her sins during her forced attack o- ," he started only to be interrupted by the sputtering of nearly everyone in the room.

"The Kyuubi was forced to attack Konoha?" asked a disbelieving ANBU as he revealed himself to be one with a weasel mask.

"Hai, Uchiha-san," replied the skeleton, causing the ANBU to freeze up before Huxley waved his hand dismissively, "Please son, I'm a reaper, do you really think you can hide from me?" he asked with his one eye boring into the masked ninja's face. Needless to say, the weasel masked ninja backed off. "Now as I was saying, the Kyuubi attack was a forced incident and the culprit is unknown. We do know that he has a doujutsu capable of controlling demons as well as the contract for summoning foxes and Kitsune, which is how he was able to summon the Kyuubi many years prior,"

This struck a chord in Sarutobi. He remembered a long time ago that the first hokage had fought a man named Madara Uchiha who summoned the Kyuubi and was somehow able to control her. Though that was almost a hundred years ago, so what were the chances that he would be able to do it again? Besides, the Kyuubi was in Kushina at the team and there was no way he could have known about the seal being weak during childbirth even if he was alive! Something wasn't right here. _'Fredrick mentioned a doujutsu, could it be the sharingan?'_ thought the old man. If that were true, then the Uchihas were up to something and it was dangerous to let this information to just be let go. Another thought then occurred to the hokage.

"How exactly do the Kitsune know about their leader being sealed, and why didn't they try to free her before?" asked Sarutobi. This gained a confused look from Naruto before the hokage explained, "There have been other Kyuubi jinchuuriki, Naruto-kun, you aren't the first to house the great fox demon,"

"A good question my friend and the answer is simple," Fredrick stated before doing some hand seals. Finishing, a scroll the size of the forbidden scroll poofed into existence. "This scroll contains all the laws, cultures and rituals of demons, that includes Bijuu code of conduct," here he unrolled the scroll until he stopped on a certain section written in strange runes that people could only guess were demonic in origin. "Here, Bijuu vow number fifty-six states and I quote," here Fredrick put a monocle on his one eye and held the scroll in front of him, "Should any demon with the title of bijuu find him or her self sealed inside of a vessel, human or otherwise, can not be given assistance by their subordinates or family so long as said demon was defeated by the sealer, this rule is void, should said bijuu be sealed A) outside of combat or B) under the influence of another being," finished the reaper.

"But what about when the demon is just transferred from vessel to vessel? Surely that voids the rule due to circumstance A," asked a curious Hiruzen.

"That is where you are wrong, when a demon is being transferred the sealers have to battle the will of the tailed beast and they also have to successfully transfer not just the chakra but the mind, a bijuu is living chakra, meaning if even one iota of their chakra escapes, they'll be able to fight out of their vessel," he said with a snap of his bony fingers as the scroll vanished.

Sarutobi contemplated this information, "So the only thing keeping us from the wrath of the Kitsune is Kyuubi's wish?" he asked finally.

"Correct,"

Sighing, the old man took his hat off and began massaging his scalp, the council was going to be in an uproar about this. "So what are you going to be doing?" he asked finally.

"Simple, I'm going to watch over Naruto and teach him until it is shown that he can defend himself from the threats against him," Fredrick replied.

"I don't think that will be necessary, Naruto has entered the academy and should be fine," he supplied.

"See now there's another thing," Fredrick responded with a bit of a sarcastic tone, "An academy student can't fight ANBU," he stated. At this Sarutobi's eyes nearly popped out of his head while the other hidden ANBU nearly fell over in surprise. ANBU were attacking Naruto?

"An ANBU attacked you Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked in shock. Naruto nodded while eyeing his grandfather warily.

"He said it was by order of the hokage," Naruto said quietly. At this the hokage's jaw literally hit in the floor in shock before he closed his mouth and scowled. Somebody was using his name to attack his grandson?

'_This has gone too far, it ends'_ the Kami no Shinobi vowed silently, "Naruto what did this ANBU look like? His mask specifically," Hiruzen ordered.

Naruto thought for a bit before the blank white mask appeared in front of his mental eye. "His mask was just a blank white one, there weren't any markings on it," Naruto replied a bit confused. Didn't all ANBU have animal masks? Or at least the village mark?

Sarutobi however got extremely pissed. "Danzo…" he growled, killing intent starting to come off of him in waves. "That's it!" the old man roared, "ANBU! Call the council, NOW! That old war hawk has gone too far this time," barked the hokage as he strode out from behind his. The ninja nodded at their leader and leapt to do their task while Sarutobi strode for the door, "Huxley, Naruto, come with me," he commanded flatly. Naruto gulped nervously, he was scared of this angry version of his grandpa. Feeling a weight on his shoulder, Naruto looked up to see Fredrick with a reassuring look directed at him and a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder while his other one was holding his scythe like a staff.

"Don't worry, if anything happens I'll be right here to defend you," promised the skeleton. Naruto smiled at that and took the skeleton's hand in his own and walked towards the council chambers.

'_Heh, of all the times I've wished for death to come it finally does and turns into my salvation, just not in the way anyone would have expected'_ thought the blonde with amusement as they entered the council chambers. "Fredrick, could you hide yourself until I call you?" asked the hokage. The reaper nodded before seeming to dissipate into smoke, leaving behind his prayer beads that floated in the air before settling over a surprised Naruto's neck outside of his tattered orange jumpsuit.

**Some time later**

About an hour later the council members started to trickle in and take their seats. The seats were set in a semi circle in three tiers with the hokage's desk at the center. The bottom tier held some wealthy merchants and those who regulated the civilians. The second tier held the shinobi section, which included the medics, and ANBU and the final level held the three elders, Homura and Koharu, former teammates of Hiruzen and Danzo, a seemingly crippled man with bandages covering one eye, an x shaped scar on his chin and his right arm in a sling. The man seemingly limped into the room with the aid of a cane, stopped to cast a glance at Naruto and then sat down. Soon the entire council was there and a good portion of them were grumbling about being taken away from their home when they were getting ready for bed.

"Hokage-sama now that everyone is here can you please explain why we're here and why _that_ is here?" asked a pink haired woman with a disdainful look towards Naruto. The rest of the council also started muttering, sending hated glares towards Naruto. The blonde started to back up nd made ready to bolt till the hokage spoke.

"Enough! Naruto-kun is here because it concerns him and recent revelations. And all of you," here the old man glared at them, "will listen before you do anything. If I am interrupted, the interrupter dies, no exceptions, so you will be SILENT!" barked the old man, releasing a spike of KI at the council, who immediately nodded in response, now terrified of the Professor.

"Earlier this evening, Naruto was attacked again by a mob," seeing some the council members smirk the hokage frowned, he made a mental note of the people he saw smiling and was quite surprised to see that Fugaku Uchiha looked angry, not at the boy but at the other council members though no one seemed to notice. Hiashi on the other hand, was glaring at the boy with a burning intensity of hatred.

"However, the mob was stopped by a lone ANBU with a blank white mask, no discerning features at all on it," here Sarutobi glanced at Danzo and saw no real reaction on the surface, but he could see that the old war hawk had tightened his grip on his cane in obvious agitation. "The ANBU then said that by my orders, he was to kill Naruto Uzumaki, leaving a light gash across the boy's chest," some of the council member's smiles widened at this.

"However, when the ANBU went to remove Naruto's head, he was stopped by a scythe," at this surprise and curiosity came over the civilian's faces. "The scythe belonged to one Fredrick Huxley the Third, a reaper," at this the council became confused. A reaper? Who were the reapers? Does the hokage mean an actual reaper? Those were some of the thoughts going through the members' heads.

"Fredrick the proceeded to bring Naruto here and told me that he had been sent by Kami-sama and Lord Shinigami them selves to protect Naruto and stop the Kitsune from attacking us due to Naruto's treatment in this village," here the hokage paused to see everyone staring at him as if he ha gone mad. "Now you may ask questions,"

At first, no one did anything till a very well built man wearing a brown shirt and black pants with a bald head and black goatee stood up. "Do you have any valid evidence to support this hokage-same? I don't wish to be disrespectful, but I can safely say for all of us that this is quite confusing," stated the man.

"Of course, council I would like you all to meet Fredrick Huxley the Third," the hokage then gestured towards Naruto. Everyone's attention then shifted towards Naruto and watched in fascination as the prayer beads around his neck began to lift into the air. There was a small burst of black smoke before there floated the one eyed skeleton himself, scythe in hand and resting on his shoulder.

"Hello everyone, a pleasure to make your acquaintance," stated the reaper before bowing slightly. The council just stared at him with flabbergasted looks, even Danzo and the ever stoic Hiashi had open jaws at the sight in front of them. Silence, thenthere was an explosion of questions, complaints and screams.

"How the hell did this happen?" "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" "This is obviously a trick! The demon is toying with us!" these and many other shouts were going around the room. Sarutobi tried to silence them but, itproved useless.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Fredrick tossed earplugs to Sarutobi and Naruto before he made the tiger hand seal. Gathering his energy, the skeleton inhaled deeply. The two who had received ear plugs barely put them on in time as the reaper let forth a scream unlike any ever heard by mortal man. It was a high pitched screech that caused Tsume, the Inuzuka matriarch to howl in pain as some blood seeped out of her ears. Some council member's glasses shattered from the wail and some even passed out from it. When it finally died down everybody just stared at the causer of the horrible sound.

Sarutobi and Naruto took out the ear plugs just in time to here Fredrick speak, "Now would you all please keep quiet? I swear you young people and your need to be loud! As if it wasn't bad enough when you invented that 'rock and roll' and your 'heavy metal' then you made that 'rap' music! I mean seriously I have never seen such vulgar behavior then at those clubs of yours," ranted the ancient being, everyone just sweatdropped at the skeleton as he went on about the modern youth having no decency.

"Um, reaper-san, we apologize for earlier now could you tell us what the hell that was and why you're here?" asked Homura.

Fredrick sighed before answering, "First off, that was an undead technique known primarily as the Banshee's Scream which will, as you have experienced first hand, cause massive damage to one's hearing, it's a perfect tool for disorienting a target then taking their soul," here a small shiver passed through the crowd. "As for why I'm here, I am Naruto's new protector and sensei and shall be defending the boy until I deem him able to defend himself," stated the skeleton.

"Are you insane! If you teach the demon any of your techniques he'll kill us all!" shouted a civilian member. There were shouts of agreement before a very potent feeling of doom silenced them. The council turned to see Fredrick slowly levitating towards the person who had spoken, all light and warmth seeming to be sucked into his midnight black cloak, to be replaced with despair and cold that chilled the bone. The unfortunate man who had spoken could only watch in horror as the reaper approached him, his single icy blue eye alight with an unholy glow and the council man could swear he saw the souls of the damned swirling within that single eye, all of them screaming in agony, begging for death or some kind of release from their torture.

"You are a fool," he whispered, the posh and polite voice replaced with the sound of steel dragging across ice. "This boy is innocent, the creature inside of him repents, you on the other hand, are filled with sin, your soul stained black with foul deeds," he spoke.

"W-what are y-you talking ab-about?" stuttered the man in fear.

"You conspired with fellow councilors pay assassins to murder Naruto, you are unfaithful to your wife and have been laying with many woman at a brothel, which you visit frequently," stated the reaper, "you have been stealing from your own employees and stores, claiming that all the money has been taken by thieves and the drop in their paychecks is due to renovations when in reality, that money is being used to satiate your own lusts and debts that you have run up with your uncontrollable gambling,"

The council man could only gape in fear as every word spoken by the soul harvester was true. "Yoshi Tao, you have been found guilty of the sins of adultery, avarice, fraud, thievery and attempted murder with no hint at repenting for your sins, your life is forfeit," here the skeleton raised his hand and latched onto the man's head, "your soul is mine, and eternal damnation awaits you," with that the man screamed as he felt his body start to burn and tear at the same time. His mind felt like it was being shattered while his blood was being both frozen and boiled at the same time.

On the outside, the council could only watch in morbid fascination as Yoshi screamed and his body began to pale while the light from his eyes dimmed. Finally, in a swift ripping motion, Fredrick tore his hand from the man's hand, a white orb with a black center now held in his bony hands. The now hollow shell of Yoshi Tao fell over, his face set into a scream with his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Naruto take note," Fredrick stated in his posh and polite tone as he drifted until he was floating at the center of the room, the orb still in his hand, "There are three ways to reap a soul, one is to use a weapon forged in the bowels of the underworld from a metal known as Aes Damnatis, use reaper techniques or," here he took the soul and ate it, chewing thoughtfully, "devour it, I find that they are quite delicious when chased down with a red wine and seasoned with a dash of pepper," everyone just blinked in surprise and some cringed in horror at his words. "Now, I am prepared to reap the soul of almost everyone in here unless you shut up and listen," spoke the reaper.

"With all due respect reaper-san," Hiashi stated, "this has nothing to do with you, Uzumaki is still alive and sense you are not here to reap his soul, I do not believe you should be here attempting to teach a mere human the arts of a reaper," stated the Hyuuga coldly.

"On the contrary, people like YOU have made it not just my problem, but you have also endangered thousands of innocent lives! My job may be to reap souls, but Kami nor Shinigami-sama will allow another war between mortals and demons! The last time that happened, the entire planet had to be recreated along with every single organism on it! When your species fight each other you literally destroy the world!" spat the skeleton, "Last time you two fought, seven gods die, five were enslaved and over a dozen divine weapons were used! Do you know how many people, both human and demon died? Last time the gods refused to be apart of it and their hands were forced to destroy everything they had created! This time, the divine will not sit back and let something like this happen again," roared the skeleton.

There was silence until Fugaku spoke up, "Why would there be another war between humans and demons?" asked the man.

"The Kyuubi is the leader of the Kitsune race, which is demon in nature. They have threatened to invade Konoha and take Naruto away should the blonde continue to be attacked and treated the way he is being treated. They have also promised that they will deliver demonic justice when they come for the blonde, and that involves slaughter of everyone involved in the attacks," here everyone paled.

"Now if you'll excuse me, It is late and tomorrow is a big day for young Uzumaki, so I bid you all, or some of you, a fond farewell," with that, Fredrick grabbed Naruto and led him out of the building. Sarutobi wtched them go before turning back to the council.

"Now, on to the business of remaking the council," Sarutobi said as surprise rippled through the room.

"What exactly do you mean Hiruzen?" asked Homura. At the hokage's malicious grin, the council shuddered in fear.

**Naruto's home**

When the reaper and child finally made it back to Naruto's home, the skeleton was surprised to find the boy's home was very clean. Granted, the entire place was run down and the furniture was pretty much ruined, but given who Naruto was it wasn't surprising.

"Right then, Naruto go to bed, after you return from the academy tomorrow we will begin your training," Huxley told his young charge. Naruto nodded before going to bed, too tired to chat both mentally and physically. Fredrick watched as the boy went to bed, not even bothering to change out of his jumpsuit due to the fact it was one of his only outfits. As the boy slept, Fredrick got into a meditative stance, his eye closed and his prayer beads clutched to his forehead while his scythe stood upright in his right hand. Tomorrow promised to a very interesting day, as did the years to come, thought the undead being before succumbing to the tranquility of his forced relaxation.

**A/N: Done! Thanks for reading and be sure to review! Next chapter we go to the academy for a day and start Naruto's unholy training. Be sure to check out my other stores and for those wondering, Aes Damnatis is Latin for ore of the damned.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Thank you all who have reviewed! First off, whats frighteners? Second, while I love Soul Eater, I really don't see how I could add that into my story. Well actually… hehehehe… Psudocode Samurai, you have just given me a wonderful idea! In respect to that, maybe Blair will make an appearance, maybe even a permanent addition, to the story along with…. Heh, you'll just have to read and find out, ne? **Naruto awoke with a yawn, absently noting that his wound from yesterday had healed. He again wondered why that was until he remembered the events of last night. Slowly the blonde blinked before shaking it off. "Weirdest dream I've ever had," thought the blonde, "Besides reapers are supposed to be scary not posh voiced coots with only one eye," chuckled the blonde humorously.

"I'll have you know that the 'cold and foreboding reaper' is an untrue stereotype," stated a familiar posh voice. Surprised, Naruto whirled around to see Fredrick Huxley standing in front of, leaning on his scythe with an amused twinkle in his eye. "Now come on boy, you need a change of clothes and some food in your belly before you go to the academy," the reaper told the boy.

"Wait! I still need to get cleaned up and stuff," Naruto protested. The reaper blinked at that before chuckling.

"Sorry my boy, I had forgotten that you would need to get yourself ready, being dead does that you know," chuckled the undead. "Be quick though, I want to get you some new clothes before the academy starts," he stated seriously. Naruto smiled and nodded before going to the bathroom to get washed up.

As Naruto got prepared, Fredrick decided he would cook breakfast. Entering the small kitchen, the reaper opened the fridge to find only a carton of milk. A little confused, the reaper grabbed the carton and opened it, only to blanch and incinerate the horrid smelling dairy product on the spot. "Good lord! If I didn't know better I'd say that milk came straight from a zombie cow's festering udder!" he cried in disgust. Sighing, the reaper went to the cupboards to see what else the blonde had. Fredrick just stared at the revealed contents in the cupboard, blinking once, twice before growling in frustration. There was nothing but dozens upon dozens of instant ramen packages! "There are guilty pleasures then there's obsession," muttered Huxley before deciding it would have to do. Grabbing a random packet the skeleton started to heat up the water for the noodles. As the water boiled in the beat up kettle, Fredrick decided to write a letter to an old friend of his. As the kettle began to whistle the reaper had just finished the letter and was pocketing it in his robe. At the same time, Naruto appeared dressed in a slightly better jumpsuit then the tattered rags he had on before. Seeing the ramen, Naruto immediately gave a cry of joy and viciously attacked the cup of noodles soaked in broth.

Fredrick blinked at the boy. _'Sheesh, he's almost as bad as Gluttony at a buffet!'_ thought the skeleton. _'Almost like the scavengers did near the end of the old world, always eating whatever they could get as quickly as possible before someone could…'_ here the skeleton stopped and his eye went wide in realization.

Naruto wasn't eating so quickly due to bad habits or an obsession with the food but rather he did it out of fear, fear that he would be attacked and that this would be his only meal for a while. Fredrick sighed a bit at that, he knew Naruto's life was bad, but to learn survival habits meant for times of great strife, for his age and in the supposedly most peaceful hidden village, it was just disgusting really.

'_Well, it's a good thing I came here then'_ thought the reaper. Seeing that the blonde had finished, the skeleton stood up. "Come on boy, we need to get to a store for some supplies and new clothes," stated Fredrick. Naruto was about to protest that the owners would just kick him out when the skeleton spoke again, "Relax my boy, the store we're going to will not care what species you are so long as you can pay the price asked,"

"Where are we going?" asked the blonde curiously. The reaper just chuckled and grabbed the knob of the front door. However, before he opened the door, Fredrick coated his hand in chakra and began drawing a seal on it. The seal was odd to Naruto, instead of the usual kanji seal, he had made a pentagram then encased it inside a pentagon with a strange seal in the center of it all. The reaper laid his hand flat against the central character before sending a pulse of energy into it, causing the door to become pitch black and the knob into a small skull.

"Naruto, welcome to the little shop of horrors," and with that, the reaper pushed the door open and before Naruto knew it, he had been sucked into a swirling mass of darkness.

**Some time later**

Naruto awoke groggily, his vision swimming before him. Blearily, the boy remembered the reaper doing something to his door, then it turned into a black hole and sucked him up, depositing him Kami knows where.

"Hello! Come on kid wake up!" shouted a voice the boy didn't recognize. He registered that it was female and that she was close, very close to him. Slowly, as the boy recovered, Naruto began to see a face, it seemed a little heart shaped with one large blue blob on it along with a red blob on top of it that covered one of the eyes. As his vision finally came back into focus the blonde realized something, something that made his heart skip a beat for a minute.

Not mere inches from his own face was a girl about his age with blood red hair that swept over her right eye leaving only one beautiful blue eye for the world to see. Her face was a bit pointed when it got to the chin but rounded out everywhere else, somewhat like an upside down tear drop along with a cute little nose and creamy pale skin. It was then that he realized, the girl was crouching over him on all fours, her knees on each side of his thighs and her arms holding her up mere inches from his face on both sides of his head.

The blonde yelped in surprise and accidently smashed his forehead into hers, sending the girl back and Naruto to slam the back of his head into the ground. Both groaned in pain as they started to stand. Naruto absently noted that the girl was wearing a strange patchwork dress of dark purple, smoky gray and black with baggy black stockings with smart black slip on shoes.

"Sorry about that," chuckled the girl as she rubbed her head, a smile on her face despite the pain. "Anyway, my name is Kikioko Atezuiryo and welcome to the Little Shop of Horrors," she said with a smile.

Naruto blinked at the girl before he finally started to register exactly where he was. The shop was named accurately in everything except the 'little' part. The entire area was huge! So huge that the blonde could not see the top of the building, merely an endless black void, while on the ground, Naruto was surrounded by shelves upon shelves of strange objects. They ranged from demonic figurines to small jars filled with different colored liquids or body parts. He even saw one filled with eyes that stared right back at him. There were creepy looking dolls as well, some that looked like devils, others with beady black eyes and serrated teeth, and the blonde even though he saw one filled with pins.

Now, when surrounded by such strange and scary looking things and being an eight year old with no idea where he was coupled with constantly being attacked all his life, Naruto did a very logical thing in his mind. He screamed bloody murder and began running for his life.

Kikioko just stared after the boy, surprised and confused with his actions as well as a little sad that he had left her. She got even more depressed as those words struck a chord in her heart. "Why did they leave?" she whispered to her self, memories of her past surfacing within her mind. Shaking her head, the girl thought, _'doesn't matter, that's the past and that's where it stays'_ with that, the redhead ran after the blonde headed boy.

**In another part of the store**

Fredrick was in a panic. As soon as the reaper had touched down, he realized Naruto wasn't with him, and being alone in the underworld, especially with no knowledge of this particular store, the likelihood of dying was extremely high. Luckily, being a reaper gave him the ability to sense where certain souls were and in what condition they were in. Of course, this meant the reaper could feel Naruto's fear and to be scared in the little shop of horrors… yeah he needed to find the boy and quickly!

"Lose something boya?" asked a gravelly voice filled with amusement. Turning, Fredrick came face to face with a rather round and large demon. The demon in question had green skin, three clawed fingers on each hand and two clawed toes that were in a pair of tan flip-flops. He was rather portly with a round face that was broken by a wide smile and slit yellow round eyes along with a snout not unlike that of an alligators. The only thing that broke his round face was his large pointy green ears and the little red fez that sat neatly on his head. The demon wore a blue robe and brown baggy robe like pants coupled with a beige shirt and a red sash around his waist.

"Hello Goza," Fredrick greeted the round demon warmly, forgetting for a second before he remembered about Naruto, "Ah! Sorry Goza, but a human is here and well, its his first time here and I lost him in transit! I really need to be looking for him!" Fredrick stated before starting to rush towards Naruto's direction, or he tried were it not for Goza pulling him back by his hood.

"Whoa there boney, first. Why is there a human here? Second, how did you lose him in transit? You did remember to have a physical hold on this person before you used Death's Door, right?" asked the demon, smiling the whole time.

Fredrick blinked, and then smacked his head. Goza just chuckled heartily at the reaper. "So you forgot that part eh? No matter, whats done is done," he chortled. With that the demon began walking down the aisles, the reaper following. "Now care to explain why a human is here? Not that I mind really, but its been quite some time since I've seen a human in my shop, barring my most recent employee of course," mused the green skinned creature as he inspected some weapons. "I'm assuming you brought him here for a weapon? And would I also be right in assuming he's the Kyuubi jinchuuriki?" the demon asked, a sly smile on his face and a knowing twinkle in his eye.

Huxley stared in surprise before quickly chuckling; it didn't surprise him that Goza knew of the whole situation revolving around Naruto. The portly creature made it his business to know what went on in the world, especially with information like this. The reaper also knew that Goza would do anything to prevent another demon/human war, because while he would make a lot of money out of it, the cost of lives would just be too great. Besides, Goza wasn't a war merchant, but a jack-of-all-trades salesman, selling everything, specializing in nothing. Then the seriousness of losing Naruto in this place hit him again. "Goza please, I must find Naruto before he meets a rather unfortunate end!" Fredrick exclaimed.

Goza just shrugged, "Then we'll find him on one condition," stated the demon. Fredrick blinked at him and Goza chuckled, "You take me and my employees to Konoha with you, I need a new place to set up shop and if I'm right, this Naruto will attract a lot of business," stated the demon.

Fredrick just nodded slowly, "I can take you to Konoha but why would you think Naruto would attract more business? And don't you think its unwise to set up a paranormal shop in the human world?" asked the reaper.

Goza just laughed at the reaper, "Change is coming my friend, and the catalyst is that boy," with that, the demon walked off towards the sounds of screaming that was growing closer every with every step.

**With Naruto**

Naruto was running for his life, though if he had been thinking clearly, he would realize that running around like a chicken with its head cut off in a place like this was VERY unwise. However, being poorly educated and prone to act on instinct and emotion, it was somewhat understandable. But that's beside the point, Naruto was running and screaming through the aisles, going who knows where when something wrapped around his legs and caused him to trip.

Panicked the boy turned around and saw a truly terrifying site. There, in a olant pot the size of a hot tub was a ten foot tall plant with a giant mouth filled with sharp teeth, a purple tongue and drooling green saliva that seemed to hiss and sizzle as it hit the ground. The plant stood on a long thick green stalk and had roots surrounding its reach that seemed to have a reach of at least 4 yards and acted like tentacles, and one of those tentacles was wrapped around Naruto's feet!

Naruto screamed as the plant monster dragged the blonde towards its gaping maw. Naruto watched as the plant dangled him in front of it, positive that the monstrous botanical organism was going to devour him. Closing his bright blue eyes, Naruto waited for his inevitable doom. Surprised, the blonde felt his face getting licked repeatedly, but not in the way of tasting something, but rather in the way a dog licks it's masters face. Surprised, the blonde snapped his eyes open and stared at the plant that was seemingly panting in joy and Naruto noticed that he was set down on the edge of the pot the plant was housed in. For a second the blonde contemplated running when something rolled against his foot. Surprised, the blond looked to see a small red ball and the plant waiting in excited expectation.

Confused, the blonde picked up the ball and looked from it to the plant waiting happily, on the roots behind it wagging back and forth furiously. Giving a shrug the boy threw the ball high in the air towards the plant and watched in fascination as the green monster gave a bark before snapping at the ball and catching it. Happily the plant brought the ball back and laid it at Naruto's feet, obviously wanting him to throw it again. The blonde blinked before throwing it again, watching in some amusement as the plant went to catch it again then brought it back once more for the boy to throw. Naruto chuckled a bit before throwing the ball again, his previous fear now completely gone as he played fetch with this strange plant.

"I see you found Seamore," said a familiar voice behind the blonde. Turning, Naruto was surprised to find not only the girl from earlier, but also a portly green skinned demon and his guardian Fredrick. All of them were smiling at the sight while Fredrick literally flew at Naruto and caught him up on a bone shattering hug.

"Thank the Lord you're alright! I'm so sorry Naruto, I never meant to leave you alone I-," the skeleton just rambled on about how sorry he was while Naruto was desperately trying to escape the death grip he was in. Thankfully the blonde was saved by the green demon swatting the back of the skeleton's head.

"You're going to kill him with that hug of yours boya," stated Goza as Naruto dropped to the floor gasping for breath. Immediately, Kikioko was by his side helping him up. Nervously the blonde thanked her but stepped back until he was next to Fredrick again, the whole time smiling at the girl with a big goofy grin. Goza cocked an eye at that. _'Odd, boy's acting like we're some kind of threat, I wonder…'_ However before the demon could contemplate further he was torn from his thoughts by the skeleton speaking up again.

"Goza, I came here for supplies and for you to deliver a letter," stated the reaper as he pulled out the envelope. Curious the demon took the envelope and read who it was addressed to with a bit of shock and disgust crossing his features.

Turning to the reaper Goza had a disbelieving tone as he asked, "Are you absolutely sure you want to get _his_ help in training the boy?" The Huxley just nodded in response. "Fine, but I don't see how that slug jockey is going to be of any use," grumbled Goza in annoyance.

Naruto frowned at that, "Who are you talking about?" asked the boy. Fredrick just ruffled his hair and glided after a grumbling Goza. Confused, Naruto turned to the only other person nearby. "Do you know who they're talking about?" he questioned, turning to a smiling Kikioko.

Kikioko just giggled in response before saying, "You'll have to find that out yourself whiskers! Now come on, you really don't want to be left behind do you?" with that she started skipping after the other two. Naruto stared for a minute before deciding to follow. "By the way, my name is Kikioko Atezuiryo, but people usually call me Kiki, how about you whiskers?"

Naruto hesitated for a second, not quite sure how he should respond. Being who he was, people generally avoided him as soon as they learned who he was if they hadn't beforehand and Naruto had only been asked for his name once before, and that was from the people who owned the ramen stand he frequented. "Its Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki the next hokage! Dattebayo!" he had started out quiet but had ended with a loud and confident voice, a giant skull splitting grin on his face.

Kiki blinked before letting her head fall to the left as she stared at Naruto quizzically, "Whats a hokage?" she asked. At this Naruto fell flat on his face anime style before getting up with his eyes replaced with burning flames of determination.

"The hokage is the greatest ninja in the entire village! He's the strongest of the strong and everybody respects him! And I will use my blood, sweat and tears to get that hat!" he declared, fist in front of him and his face mere inches from Kiki's own somewhat freaked and blushing one. Suddenly Naruto turned and faced the sky, fist in the air and the flames in his eyes even bigger and more intense, "Do you hear me old man? I will take that hat from your head, even if I have to defeat a god to do it! And to start as soon as I get home, it's a hundred laps around the training ground!" declared the boy, his eyes literally bursting into miniature suns at this point.

**Back in Konoha**

Two green spandex clad shinobi, both supporting perfect black haired bowl cuts and extremely bushy matching eyebrows sneezed and felt immensely proud for someone.

"Gai-sensei, d you feel what I do?" asked the smaller bowl cut green clad shinobi, this one having wrapped hands and forearms with no flak jacket.

"Yes Lee and I believe that someone out there has joined our youthful quest!" Declared the bigger bowl cut male, this one wearing a jounin flak jacket and no hand wraps.

Lee pumped his fist into the air with a cry of joy "This is most wonderful Gai-sensei! I say we train till our fires of youth burn as brightly as our new comrade's!" he declared with determined look.

"That a boy Lee! Yosh let us test our flames of YOOOUTH!" declared the man, his thumb up and arm straight out with a blinding smile on his face. With that, both males dashed off, running at speeds that would make the Yellow Flash whistle in amazement.

**In a secret lair**

A man cloaked in shadows with only a pair of purple eyes with a ripple pattern in them visible, sneezed violently before a small feeling of dread ran up his sine. "I feel like someone… wants to kill me," he said in a monotone voice. Shaking his head, the shadow clad man ignored it, "Doesn't matter, no one can kill a god," he stated, with that the man walked off.

**Back at the shop**

Kiki watched with some fascination at Naruto's declaration before she slowly started to smile, which was soon followed by a soft giggle that slowly got louder and louder until the girl was laughing uproariously. Confused, Naruto just stared at the girl an eyebrow cocked as the girl held her sides, tears of mirth forming in her eyes, "Whats so funny?" he asked innocently.

Kiki finally started to calm down, but the smile would not leave her face as she explained, "You, you're funny," she stated. Naruto blinked a bit before realization dawned on him.

"Oi! Don't laugh at my dream! I'll prove you and everyone else wrong, just wait and see!" Naruto said angrily, a small bit of hurt and hatred shining in his eyes. Kiki only saw it for an instant until the blonde squinted his eyes so the blue orbs weren't seeable.

Blinking at the blonde Kiki gave a warm smile, "Sorry if I offended you, but the way you proclaimed it was funny, plus with that jumpsuit your in, it's just funny!" here she giggled a bit at the memory, "But trust me when I say I would never laugh at you for your dream, I have one too you know," she said with seriousness. Naruto blinked at that.

"What is it?" he asked with curiosity, all anger or resentment now gone and replaced with a simple wish to know. Kiki just smiled; "Well…" here she leaned in towards the blonde, a twinkle in her eye. Seeing this, Naruto leaned in closer too, although when he did, he noticed that his heart began to beat a little faster and his face became a little hot. Unbeknownst to him, Kikioko's was doing the same.

Opening her mouth and taking a deep breath Kiki said, "You'll just have to wait and see!" and with that, she dashed off laughing merrily.

Naruto blinked in confusion before racing after the girl, a small smile on his lips as he chased her and shouted in mock indignity "What kind of answer is that? Get back here!" Kiki just laughed in response and kept running. The blonde also laughed as he chased her, things were starting to look up for Naruto.

**An hour later**

Naruto couldn't really believe his day. First, he wakes up to find out that a reaper really is guarding him, then he gets sucked into some shop that in all actuality, was another dimension! Fredrick had said something about it just being a pocket dimension and not an actual whole other dimension, but that had been lost on Naruto. I mean seriously, it was another dimension! However, it was the person currently walking with him towards the academy and their new role in his life was what surprised him the most.

"Wow this place is amazing!" Kikioko exclaimed as she looked at the buildings and people around her. Goza had apparently decided that if they were going to open up shop in Konoha, he should also send Kiki to the Academy. When the girl had asked why she should become a shinobi Goza had said.

"We're not regular humans Kiki and we need to make sure that this hokage person knows we mean no harm to his village. So what better way then to have my 'daughter' become a kunochi and our shop to help supply his forces?"

So Fredrick had gone off to tell Hiruzen about this turn of events while Kiki and Naruto headed to the academy. The blonde was grateful that she was busy with looking at everything because if she wasn't, Kiki would most likely notice all the hate filled glares Naruto was getting. It was something he didn't want to have to explain to her, not when she was very possibly his only friend.

"We're here!" announced Naruto happily as he passed through the gates into the academy yard. Kiki could only gaze in awe of the building as she switched her view from the Academy building and to the countless other kids who were arriving or being dropped off by their parents.

Kiki's gaze lingered on the kids being dropped off for a moment, and Naruto saw an emotion he himself had felt for years. Longing, a sense of want for something everyone else had. Yet Naruto also saw something else in there, like she was remembering something, something traumatic. Before Naruto could ponder it though, the look had vanished from her blue eyes as quickly as it had come, though Kiki seemed completely oblivious to everything almost as if thinking about whatever it was had made her mind shut down completely.

"Kiki? You okay?" asked Naruto shaking her shoulder slightly. Kikioko blinked before looking around her. When she landed her one eye on Naruto's blue eyes comprehension started to dawn once again.

"Hehe, sorry bout that. Guess I spaced a bit there huh?" she apologized casually. Naruto just gave her his usual smile and grabbed her hand. "No problem, now come on! We're late for class!" he said boisterously, completely oblivious to his companion's furious blush and small smile.

**In the classroom**

Iruka Umino, a man garbed in the standard chuunin outfit with tan skin, dark eyes and a scar going across his nose, was doing role call for his class. "Yamanaka Ino," he called out. A female voice gave a here while Iruka checked the name off. "Naruto Uzumaki," he called. There was silence.

Iruka looked up to see if the blonde was asleep but sighed when he saw the boy was nowhere to be seen. "Ok, has anyone seen Na-," he was interrupted by the sound of his door being opened followed by frantic footsteps and a loud cry of "We're here!"

Rolling his eyes, Iruka turned to reprimand Naruto about being late when he stopped dead in his tracks at two facts about the boy. One was that Naruto wasn't wearing his orange jumpsuit, granted he was still wearing orange but it wasn't that neon orange jumpsuit that screamed 'kill me'. Instead he was wearing a burnt orange jacket with the usual red swirl taking up the center of the back. Under the jacket was a simple white shirt with a black skull on the front. He was wearing simple brown cargo pants and black shinobi sandals. Completing the look was the usual goggles on his forehead and some purple prayer beads around his neck like a necklace.

However all this paled in comparison to one simple and glaringly obvious fact. Naruto was holding the hand of a girl! A girl! At first, Iruka thought it was an illusion but after trying to disperse it discreetly, he knew it was a living breathing female!

Shaking himself, Iruka decided to find out what his favorite student had been up to, "Ok Naruto, would you mind explaining why you're late and why you've brought this girl to class?" asked the chuunin.

Naruto grinned at that, "I was showing Kiki here around town," he exlained while gesturing with his free hand to the lightly blushing red head. Kikioko smiled nervously in return and gave the instructor a tiny wave in greeting. "She's here to become a kunochi, she and her father just moved in," Naruto informed him.

Iruka blinked at that. At least now he knew who his new student was. About an hour before class, he had gotten a message that said he'd be getting some new blood but no other details than that. "Well then how about you introduce yourself miss? And Naruto go take a seat, don't worry you're girlfriend will be sitting next to you," Iruka teased.

Naruto and Kiki both sported red fasces at that as they shouted in perfect synchronization, "WE'RE NOT LIKE THAT!" The instructor just chuckled good naturedly as Naruto took his usual seat at the middle desk in the middle row. And of course, the seats next to his were empty, something that Kiki found odd. However she decided to just get it over with and introduce herself.

"Hello everyone," she greeted in a kind voice, "My name is Kikioko Atezuiryo, and I just moved here with my father. I look forward to working with you guys," she finished and then went to sit next to our blonde hero. Naruto gave her a foxy grin and she did the same in return as she took her seat and waited for class to begin.

Her actions were met with various reactions from the students, but the majority was just is disbelief that she'd sit next to Naruto of all people. Most of the girls wondering why she'd sit next to someone like the class clown instead of Sasuke Uchiha, a black haired boy in a blue shirt and white shirts with onyx black brooding eyes and spiky black hair. Some of the thoughts that went through the kids heads followed as such.

'_Why in Kami's name would she want to sit next to that baka?'_ though a pink haired girl.

'_Poor girl probably doesn't know what she's doing, best to set her on the right bath'_ thought a purple clad girl with a pitying look towards the blue eyed red head.

'_Huh, she looks nice'_ thought a rather rotund boy who was stuffing his face.

'_Weird, some girl appears out of the blue with Naruto and the guy seems different, great another layer to the enigma that is Uzumaki… troublesome'_ thought a boy that looked asleep sitting next to the round boy.

'_Whats a babe like that doing with Naruto? Meh, probably just friends, no offense man but you suck with the ladies'_ thought a feral looking boy with a dog on his head.

'_W-What i-is her relation w-with Naruto-kun? C-Could she be his… girlfriend? No! T-They're probably j-just friends'_ thought a pale eyed girl in the back.

'_I wonder how this will affect everything?'_ thought a kid whose face was hidden by sunglasses and a high collar trench coat.

'_Great, another useless fangirl in the making, and if she's with the dobe, she'll probably be even more useless'_ thought Sasuke.

"Alright class, this afternoon we're going to have a sparring session and it will be tournament rules. First though, we'll be learning about bloodlines and their abilities," Iruka announced.

As soon as the lecture started Naruto tried to pay attention, he really did, but the lecture was just so long for the hyperactive boy. He was better at learning when it was explained simply, hands on teaching or when his life was threatened.

Kiki was half listening to the lecture while her real interest lied in observing the people around her, though as not to be caught not paying attention by Iruka, she had to settle for seeing who she could with what was in front of her and her peripheral vision.

Looking to her left, she noted that Naruto's head was laying his head on his arms, an extremely bored look on his face and on the verge of passing into blissful sleep. Looking to the bottom left she could see some black haired kid with a blue shirt and a fan etched into the back sitting on the far end of the desk, right next to the window. He seemed to be completely apathetic to where he was and towards everyone around him. The girl could easily tell he was cold, distant and more than likely anti social. There were just two things she couldn't understand though, one, why was he so cold? Two, why in gods name was nearly every girl in the class infatuated with him?

She then noted two girls that seemed to have been hit the hardest with what she would call the 'fangirl virus'. Both had long hair that reached just past mid back and both were the same height but that's where similarities ended. One girl was wearing purple while the other wore red and one had blonde hair in a ponytail while the other had pink hair that she let cascade down her back._ 'Pink hair? Well, I have seen odder'_ thought Kiki with a shrug. She watched in fascination as the tow went from gazing at Sasuke with dreamy looks to bickering with each other about who deserved/loved him more. The only thing useful she gained from this entertainment was that the pink haired girls name was Sakura,_ 'cherry blossom? Eh makes sense'_ and the platinum blonde was Ino, _'Now I know why she calls her pig' _their bickering match was interrupted when Iruka threatened them with some punishment or other. Kikioko was oblivious to this because her attention had drifted over to observe someone else.

The next person she observed was a bushy brown haired boy who hid his face behind perfectly round shades, a high collared sea-green jacket that hid his face further along with some black shorts and blue shinobi sandals. Apparently he felt her eyes on him and turned ever so slightly to look at her. Kiki smiled lightly at him, but because of her hair most of her right face it seemed more like a smirk. The boy just gave a nod of acknowledgement before turning back to pay attention to Iruka. Kiki just shrugged lightly and went to observe the last person that interested her that she could see. Oddly enough, he was observing her as well.

The boy she was studying now had red triangles reminiscent of fangs on his cheeks. He had slit like black eyes and pronounced canines, like a dogs as well as somewhat sharpened fingernails, which were reminiscent of claws. He was wearing a fur lined hooded grey coat with the hood up along with dark grayish pants that stopped at his calves right above the standard shinobi sandals. Completing this feral looking boy's looks was a small white puppy on top of his head. He was grinning at her and Kiki was more than happy to return the grin to the boy.

"PAY ATTENTION!" Iruka shouted, causing Kiki to jump in her seat and was about to apologize when she realized that Iruka wasn't glaring at her but at Naruto, who was fast asleep. Growling in anger, the chuunin grabbed an eraser and flung it at the blonde. Acting out of instinct more than anything Naruto's eyes snapped open and he had enough time to see the projectile wasn't dangerous to relax and just take the hit, Naruto style.

As soon as the erased made contact with his face, Naruto gave out a shout of indignation before falling backwards out of his seat, eraser still on his face. Leaping onto the desk with eraser in hand the whiskered boy shouted, "What the hell Iruka-sensei? Whats the big idea throwing an eraser at a little kid?" he demanded comically.

"Because you were clearly asleep and not paying attention," Iruka deadpanned.

"I was too paying attention!" Naruto denied.

"Then tell me, what have I been talking about this entire time?" Iruka asked.

"Bloodlines," Naruto stated immediately, thanking Kami that he had paid attention long enough to know about what the lecture was about.

"Correct," Iruka stated. Naruto got a giant grin on his face at this, however it vanished at Iruka's next question. "Now can you tell me what the Shodaime's bloodline was?" he asked.

Naruto just looked at him blankly before hanging his head in defeat. This was met with laughter from nearly every student as they delighted in Naruto's failure to answer a simple question. The only ones not laughing were a pale-eyed girl in the back, the shades wearing boy, the round boy plus his sleeping friend and Kikioko.

The lesson continued on and then the class was dismissed for lunch. Naruto had left so fast that Kikioko didn't even see him, just an orange blur. She blinked before shrugging and decided to see if she could follow him, but she wondered why he had left so quickly. _'Maybe he went to get some lunch from somewhere?'_ thought the girl. She just shrugged and went looking for her new friend.

Five minutes later she found Naruto sitting alone on a single swing in front of the academy. She hesitated in approaching though when she saw the look on Naruto's face. She had seen that look once before, one she knew all too well. It spoke of want, desire to have something so desperately but just couldn't have.

Looking in the same direction Naruto did she saw that he was watching the other children play. Kiki frowned at this, what was wrong with Naruto? The girl may not know much about the Kyuubi vessel but she'd be damned to hell if she didn't try and find out what was wrong with him.

Naruto sighed as he watched the other kids fool around and have fun. For years he had wanted friends but, thanks to the Kyuubi their parents had told their children to avoid him, to never associate with him because of something that wasn't his fault. He just wanted to scream how unfair it was but… he had learned a long time ago that no matter how much he screamed, no one would help him, the same could be said for tears. He still cried, no mistake, he just didn't do it in front of anyone especially not in front of people he considered important to him.

However he was broken out of his thoughts when felt someone sit next to him on the swing. Surprised, the blonde turned his head and came face to face with a smiling Kikioko.

"Oh, hey Kiki, what are you doing here?" he asked with a grin.

"Obviously to eat lunch with you," she replied with a smile while opening her bento box.

The blonde was surprised by that. She wanted to east lunch with him? Him? This had happened to Naruto once and it hadn't ended well for him so he decided to test the girl. "What about the other students, surely you'd want to go meet them, you know make new friends and introduce yourself," he stated nonchalantly.

Kiki just shrugged in response, "I met you first, besides, the other girls are busy watching that kid with the whole too cool for anyone aura," she stated as she pointed with her cop sticks to the field where a large group of girls were gathered, all watching as the boy mentioned was hitting some targets with kunai and shuriken. They were some pretty good shots; hitting the bulls-eye almost every throw and each bullseye was met with swoons and cheers for their "Sasuke-kun,"

"Besides, you looked like you could use some company and I figure by keeping you company, I pay you back for showing me where the academy is," she chirped happily.

Naruto blinked at that before smiling a small smile, a genuine smile. "Thanks," he said, mostly to himself.

Kiki turned to him with a grin her one visible eye closed as she showed off her pearly white teeth. "No problem, besides, you're a nice guy to be around, you've got an approachable aura not like mister tomb and gloom over there," she stated with wave towards Sasuke.

Naruto laughed at that, however his laughter died in his throat when he saw Ino and Sakura along with a congregation of other girls approaching them. He sighed but forced a smile on his face when they stopped in front of the two. "He guys, whats up?" he asked in a friendly manner.

"Shut up dobe," stated Sakura with an arrogant voice and upturned nose to the boy. "We're not here to talk to you,"

"Hey Kikioko," Ino called, completely apathetic to Naruto, "you wanna come eat lunch with us? We usually go eat and watch Sasuke-kun practice," she asked.

"Nah, I'd rather hang here with Naruto, thanks though," she replied, much to everyone's shock.

"You'd rather eat with this deadlast then watch Sasuke-kun? He's the top of the class!" Sakura exclaimed.

Kiki frowned at her, "Be that as it may, I'm not interested in him like you guys are and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop insulting my friend," again shock rolled through the group, but none more so than Naruto.

"Friend?" Sakura asked incredulously, "You're friend with him?"

"And how is it any of your business?" Kiki asked sharply, her patience was starting to wear thin.

"Because he's an idiot! All he ever does is play stupid pranks on people, act like a total idiot and he's a nobody!" Sakura screamed as the girls behind her gave nods of approval and agreement. What happened next was something Naruto would remember for years to come, because it was to become one of his most treasured memories.

SMACK!

The sound of the slap seemed to absorb all other sound in the world as everyone stared in shock at the red head, now standing over Sakura, whom was on the ground, shock in her eyes as she placed a hand to her stinging red cheek.

"You listen to me and you listen well," Kiki said in a cold voice, her one visible blue eye boring into the shocked emerald of Sakura's. "I will not now, nor will I ever let you or anyone else talk to me or my friends like that!" she shouted. Now everyone had come to see what the commotion was about, even Sasuke had come to see. Seeing as everyone was there Kiki set her face into a serious mask of iron will. "My name is Kikioko Atezuiryo, and Naruto Uzumaki is my friend, if any of you have a problem, we'll settle it in the ring," with that, she grabbed a stupefied blonde boy's hand and stormed back into the academy building.

When the two finally got back to the classroom, Naruto finally snapped out of his stupor and grabbed Kiki, spinning her around so her surprised eye was looking into Naruto's own blue orbs. "What the hell were you thinking!" he nearly shouted at her, his voice a mixture of fear and anger.

Kiki was surprised and confused at this, "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean everything you did back there! It's bad enough that you started to defend me but openly attacking Sakura and declaring to everyone you're my friend? Do you even know what you've done?" he asked franticly.

Kiki became angry at this. _'I defend him and THIS is how he acts?'_ she thought. "Well sorry for trying to help! What am I not good enough to be your friend or something?" she demanded.

"NO!" Naruto yelled in frustration. He took a deep breath and said in a quiet voice, "If anything you're too good to be friends with someone like me," he put a hand to his stomach and grimaced at that. Looking up Naruto met the confused and concerned crystal blue that was Kiki's eye and said in a level tone, "Kiki, I'm glad that you call me a friend but its… it would be better if you just followed everyone else and forgot about me," he sighed.

"Why would you say something like that?" Kiki asked.

Naruto turned his head away from the red head, "Its because I'm an outcast, a hated reminder of something I had no part in," he explained in a hushed tone, "If you start associating with me, they'll start to hate you too and I.., I couldn't live with myself knowing that you'd suffer because of me," he finished, his head bowed and refusing to look up at her.

There was silence for some time as Kiki contemplated this information. Frowning the girl spoke, "Naruto, look at me," she said in a firm voice. Naruto raised his head and was surprised to find her pinky extended towards him. "You're my friend, no matter what anyone says and I promise to you that nothing will change that," she stated much to the boy's surprise. _'Why am I doing this?'_ she thought as the Uzumaki just stared at her outstretched pinky, like it would vanish at any minute._ 'I barely know him yet'_ she gave him stared at the boy in front of her and couldn't help but let a smile form on her face,_ 'Because he needs a friend and I could do a hell of a lot worse'_ she finished.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Naruto raised a hesitant hand and hooked up his pinky with hers, sealing the promise. Slowly he let a smile grace his face. "Thanks Kiki-chan, I promise that you'll always be my friend, no matter what, dattebayo!" he said with his trademark grin. Kiki just giggled.

"Friends till the end, Naruto-kun," Kiki asked cutely, a blush adorning her face when she noticed he still had his pinky wrapped around hers.

"Friends till the end Kiki-chan," Naruto affirmed, a grin on his face.

**A/N: Awww, can't you just feel the love? Anyway, be sure to read and review! Ja ne!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Hello everyone! I don't have much to say except you may not see a whole ton of action, nor will I be jumping past the academy any time soon. I've still got one or two more characters to introduce as well as some development on my current ones. That and we'll see what Naruto does for training. Anyway, lets get moving ne?**

**I own NADA, ZILCH, CERO meaning this is just for fun, no money, that's Kishimoto's job**

It was a rather bittersweet day, at least, according to Naruto it was. While he was overjoyed that he had an honest to god friend, he was dismayed about the fact that his class was having a sparring tournament and almost every single girl was sending furious glares towards one Kikioko Atezuiryo, the only exception being a blue haired girl wearing a bulky tan jacket and navy blue pants with matching shinobi sandals. Hinata Hyuga, if Naruto remembered correctly though in all honesty he avoided the 'white eyes' as much as he could so it didn't surprise him that her name wasn't exactly memorized within his head.

"Alright students, there has been a slight change in our little tournament," Iruka called out over his chattering students, effectively breaking Naruto out of his thoughts. Currently the class was standing outside of the academy in one of the larger training grounds and many were curious as to what their teacher meant by a small change.

"We're actually going to have an assessment day today class," started the chuunin, the kids all groaned in annoyance. Assessment days were when they were tested on everything they had learned so far then given their rankings. Iruka waited for them to stop complaining before smirking and speaking again "Don't worry, you'll still fight but today you will be fighting in front of not just your classmates but also in front of," here he paused for a dramatic effect. Suddenly there was a massive explosion of white smoke behind Iruka, causing some of the genin to cry out in panic or surprise while the chuunin merely grinned in amusement. When the smoke settled, what was revealed left many of the students staring in shock.

"Class, today you'll be judged by the hokage himself, jounin who may become your sensei as well as some of the council," Iruka announced proudly as he stepped aside to let the wizened Hiruzen step forward, his red and white robes swishing ever so slightly as he faced the awed academy students.

"Hello everyone," the hokage spoke warmly, emitting that grandfatherly aura that helped put the children at ease, "There have been some slight changes in the council and because of that, we are creating a change in the academy," informed the old man calmly, sending ripples of murmurs throughout the gathered children, all confused as to what their leader meant by "changes". Naruto on the other hand, couldn't keep the grin off his face.

Kiki merely tilted her head to the side in confusion for two reasons. One, what did the old man in the cool hat mean by changes and second, how did Goza get on the council? Currently the demonic merchant was standing next to a black haired man that reminded her slightly of Sasuke, but he had brown hair and much more stony appearance along with crease lines under his eyes, and right behind him was a figure in a black formal suit with an extremely pale face and seemingly no muscle on it, like skin just stretched overbone. The most noticeable features however were the eye patch over the left eye, leaving only one single icy blue orb visible, the mahogany cane in his right hand and the top hat upon his head. However what really caught her attention was the fact that no one seemed to notice Goza's more… demonic features.

Deciding she could figure it out another time, the girl allowed her gaze to wander over the other people who were gathered there. First she observed those who seemed to be on the council. Barring Goza, the guy that looked like Sasuke and the pale guy, the other council members consisted of a feral looking woman with red triangles under her eyes, a rotund red haired and armored man with swirls on his cheeks, a tall platinum blonde man with a serious face, a lazy looking black haired man with scars on his face, another pale man with white eyes and no pupil or iris to speak of, then there was another man who was wearing a high collared white trench coat and his eyes were covered by a pair of wraparound sunglasses. Rounding out the council was a man in a white porcelain mask shaped like a dragon in what she assumed was standard ANBU uniform, an auburn haired girl in a doctor's uniform with half moon glasses and the final member of the council was a very large dark skinned man with gigantic muscles, a rugged brown beard and almond colored eyes that seemed to constantly be squinting.

Her gaze then traveled over to observe what she assumed was the jounin of Konoha. For the most part there weren't many interesting ones to look at but there were a few that caught her attention.

The first one that she noticed was a female with long shoulder length untamed black hair, red eyes and pale skin. She also had purple eye shadow and red lipstick. However, it was what she was wearing that caught Kikioko's attention the most. The jounin was wearing what appeared to be a blouse made out of bandages with a thorn style to it that covered a red mesh top with one long red sleeve covering her right arm. Both of her hands were wrapped in bandages and even the shorts under her blouse seemed made out of bandages. Finishing her look was the standard Konoha headband and standard shinobi sandals.

'_Wow…'_ Kiki thought as she stared a bit more at the woman. Shaking herself slightly, the girl allowed her eyes to fall onto the next jounin. This time Kiki could only blink in amazement at what she was looking at.

The next one was another female but she had purple hair tied in a peacock like ponytail with light brown pupiless eyes. However what really caught Kiki's attention was the woman's attire, or rather, the lack of it. The woman wore a tan trench coat along with a full body mesh suit and a skimpy orange dress that barely reached past mid thigh. Coupled with this look was a pair of white shin and wrist guards along with a pendant around her neck that looked like a snake's tooth. If that wasn't enough, the woman had a devilish smirk on her face and a light in her eyes that twinkled dangerously.

'_Note to self'_ thought Kiki with a slight smirk _'find out woman's name as soon as possible' _

The next one to catch our young lady's eye was a man who was wearing the standard Konoha ninja uniform, the flak jacket sipped up and the headband wrapped around his head. The man had a full black beard and spiky short black hair along with brown eyes. The most noticeable features about him were the cigarette in his mouth and the strange loincloth around his waist with the kanji for fire on it.

Kiki wrinkled her nose slightly at the man. The red head didn't particularly like cigarettes, she could barely stand Goza's occasional cigar as it was and the man in front of her seemed like a chain smoker.

Finally, Kiki's gaze landed upon the strangest jounin out of the bunch. He was wearing the standard uniform though he had fingerless gloves with metal plating on the back. The sandals were standard but that's where normalcy ended on this man. The guy had spiky silver hair that seemed to absolutely defy gravity; it just seemed to stand straight up! His headband, while located on his head, was also slanted so that it covered his left eye and he wore a face mask, covering up his nose, chin, mouth and jaw, leaving only one bored looking black eye to stare at a strange orange book in his hand.

Kiki had seen that book before but was told she was never allowed to read it until she reached a "respectable and mature age" or at least, that's what Goza had told her. All she knew was that the book both interested and enraged her for reasons she didn't understand. Before she could ponder this, though, she was brought from her musings as Iruka clapped his hands together.

"Now, lets get this tournament started," announced the chuunin, sending ripples of excitement through the academy students. "The first two fighters will be Aburame Shino vs. Kiba Inuzuka!" declared the instructor. Soon two boys entered the arena and Kiki recognized them as them as the dog boy and quiet kid from before. She deduced that the feral one must be Kiba leaving the quiet kid to be Shino.

"Alright you two, the rules are that you can't use any weapons or jutsu, hand to hand combat only, got it?" Iruka asked with an icy glare. Getting a nod from both boys, Iruka started the fight and leapt out of the way.

Immediately Kiba lunged at Shino, his clawed hands trying to slash the other boy across the chest. Shino however merely leaned back and raised his right leg for a kick towards Kiba's exposed left side. The foot connected and Kiba rolled with the blow, lessening the effect the kick would have had if he had stood still but damn did it hurt! Growling, Kiba dashed at Shino again and let loose a flurry of slashes against the shades wearing academy student. Shino for his part dodged a good number of them, but he didn't get out unscathed as there were a few tears in his coat that revealed some lightly bleeding claw marks.

"Ha! That a boy Kiba!" Tsume Inuzuka cheered on her son, a feral smirk on her face. "You've got a pretty good kid there Shibi," the matriarch commented towards the trench coat wearing man.

"Indeed," replied the man in a monotone though under his collar he was wearing a small smile.

The fight continued for a couple of minutes until it ended with Shino tossing Kiba out of the ring after he had grabbed the Inuzuka's leg. "Winner is Shino Aburame!" declared Iruka. There were some claps of appreciation for the boy while Shino went and helped Kiba up, both thanking each other for the fight.

"Next up is Hinata Hyuuga vs. Ino Yamanaka," Iruka called out. Everyone watched as a platinum blonde haired girl with a long ponytail entered the ring with a confident strut and flip of her hair. Kiki remembered her as being Ino which left the rather timid looking blue haired girl as Hinata. After getting a confirmation that both girls understood, Iruka began the match and left the arena.

"Come on Hinata, come at me with your best shot," Ino taunted as she took up the academy stance. Hinata however got into the beginning stance for her clan's taijutsu style and waited nervously for Ino to attack.

There was a few seconds of tense silence and anticipation, no one made a sound, no one moved a muscle as they watched the two females stare each other down.

Finally, Ino became impatient and launched herself at the Hyuuga heiress, right fist cocked back. The distance between the two was immediately eaten up and Ino let her fist fly. Hinata merely pushed it aside with her left arm and delivered a lightning quick palm strike to Ino's stomach.

The blonde girl gave a gasp of pain and stumbled a few steps away from Hinata, but the Hyuuga made no move to press her advantage, if anything, she looked for all the world like she wished she wasn't here.

Ino, thinking the Hyuuga was taunting her by not attacking, gave a furious growl and launched herself at the girl with a high kick aimed for Hinata's neck. Eyes widening, the pale eyed girl grabbed the approaching limb with both hands. The grils were then locked in a stalemate, Ino trying to push her leg through Hinata's gurad while said girls tried to throw the offending limb away.

Shikamaru, who was sitting at the front of the group around the ring, raised his hand palm upwards to Shino who was seated next to him. "Purple silk, pay up," he drawled lazily though there was a slight smirk on his lips as he stared towards the ring. Shino merely put several bills into Shikamaru's hand and continued to watch the fight.

Growling in frustration, Ino yanked her leg away from Hinata and went for a straight punch to the other girl's nose. Hinata once again dodged and with speed born from years of jyuuken training, delivered a chop to the back of Ino's neck, rendering the blonde unconscious.

"Winner, Hyuuga Hinata," Iruka declared proudly. Everyone congratulated the girl with either applause or some small cheers. This caused the shy girl to turn red and a small smile to creep upon her face. Turning towards where the council was seated however her face fell.

The pale man in the business suit upon seeing Hinata's forlorn face grew puzzled and turned his attention to where she was looking. Shifting his eye he saw that the girl was staring into the cold harsh unflinching gaze of one Hyuuga Hiashi.

Confused, the pale man tapped Fugaku Uchiha on the shoulder. The short brown haired Uchiha turned to the man with a curious look. "Can I help you Huxley-san?" asked the clan head.

Fredrick, for it was the reaper in a human disguise, nodded before pointing over towards Hiashi, "Would you mind telling me why Sir Hiashi is giving his daughter such an unsavory look?" he asked.

The Uchiha head looked over to Hiashi and frowned before turning back to the reaper with a slight scowl. "It is not my place to say what happens inside the Hyuuga compound, for that is Hiashi's business," Fugaku started, "However I will tell you this, it started with his wife's death and cemented with his brother's death," with that the Uchiha turned back to watch the upcoming fights.

Fredrick frowned as he heard those words._ 'Why would the death of his brother and wife result in a hatred for his daughter?'_ wondered the reaper. It was not uncommon for an uneasiness to develop between a parent and chil after one parent died nor was it uncommon for the child and remaining parent to become almost inseparable, but for this level of cold disdain and borderline hatred to occur? The skeleton just shook his head and sighed, it was best to leave it be for now.

"Alright the next match will be," The chuunin glanced at his clipboard with a puzzled expression for a moment before shrugging, "Shikamaru Nara versus Sasuke Uchiha," he called out. Wordlessly, both boys got up and proceeded to the ring. "Begin," commanded the instructor and as soon as Iruka left the arena, Sasuke sprung into action and attacked Shikamaru with a straight jab that was followed up with a rising kick when Shikamaru deftly caught his opponent's fist.

With jarring force, the kick connected with the lazy boy's chin and the Nara fell flat on his back and made no move to get up. "Yo sensei," the boy drawled from his spot, eyes listlessly watching the clouds, "I give up,"

Everyone sweatdropped at the boy's words, though a good portion of them were not surprised, not even the council members or hokage were surprised barring Goza, Fredrick and Kikioko of course.

"Your son is quite the fighter, ne Fugaku-san?" Goza said the ever-present smile on his round face.

The Uchiha smirked slightly at the merchant's words. "Just as I'd expect from my sons, Goza, especially Sasuke," he responded.

"Oh?" inquired an amused demon, "And why would you expect it from Sasuke especially? From what I hear, Itachi seems to be the prodigy and pride of your clan," Goza responded casually, a slight twinkle in his green eyes.

Fugaku gave a low chortle, "True, Itachi is one of the best but Sasuke has something his brother doesn't," the Uchiha swiveled his head to look at Goza's curious expression and gave a slightly condescending smirk to the demon. "Don't think I'm going to tell you what it is though, that wouldn't be fun at all,"

The merchant simply laughed it off and turned back to watch the last two remaining fights, _'Now to see how those two can do in a fight'_ though the goblin, his thoughts reflecting that of a certain reaper's.

"Next up, Sakura Haruno versus Kikioko Atezuiryo," Iruka called. Not seconds after he had finished speaking the pink haired girl had appeared in the ring, glaring into the crowd as she cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

Naruto watched with knots in his stomach as his friend calmly began walking towards the ring. As she passed, the red head gave him a small smile which the blonde weakly returned. Soon, Kikioko had stopped and was now staring at Sakura with a serene expression across her face while the pinkette killed her a thousand times over with her glare. This promised to be an interesting fight.

Iruka didn't even have to ask if the two were ready to fight and simply said "Begin" left the ring and waited for them to start.

"I'm going to enjoy beating you into the ground," Sakura declared as she settled into a ready pose.

Kiki just rolled her visible eye at the Haruno and sighed, "If this is about me slapping you than you deserved it," the red head replied.

Sakura growled at that and charged in for a haymaker to the face. The Atezuiryo then did something no one expected of an academy student.

As soon as Sakura let her fist fly, Kiki dodged the attack then quickly moved in and grabbed both of Sakura's shoulders. With an amazing demonstration of upper body strength and agility, the red head seemingly flipped over Sakura and as the back of her right foot came over Sakura, she put both feet on the girl's back and used Sakura as a makeshift springboard.

The pink haired girl gave a short gasp of pain as the red head sprang off of her spine. Turning, the last thing Sakura saw was one crystal blue eye and a fist.

Kiki frowned at the unconscious girl, slowly shaking her hand to dull the pain it received from decking her. "Damn that girls got a hard skull," she muttered to herself. Feeling something was off; the girl raised her head to see everyone staring at her with somewhat awed looks, Naruto being the most amazed while Goza just had a large grin on his face, one that showed off his giant razor sharp tombstone like teeth.

"Kiki-chan that was awesome!" exclaimed a voice and before she knew it Kikioko was in one of the warmest and most bone crushing hugs she had ever been in. The one giving the hug was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, the biggest grin on his face as he crushed the girl.

"Ack! Ease up a bit you're crushing my spine Whiskers!" gasped the red head. Upon hearing this the blonde immediately let go and chuckled sheepishly, one hand rubbing the back of his head. "Sheesh whiskers, you trying to kill me?" she asked with mock hurt, a cute pout on her face as she regarded the jinchuuriki.

"No way! I'd never try to hurt you!" Naruto exclaimed head shaking from side to side in a blur of movement, he stopped however when he heard her giggle.

"I'm just kidding Naruto, besides if you even tried, well…" here she trailed off and gave him a look that promised pain, lots and lots of pain.

"Hehehe…" the boy chuckled nervously, _'Note to self, DON'T piss of Kiki-chan' _thought the young shinobi to be.

A cough interrupted any further conversation and both children turned to see Iruka looking at them with an amused expression. "As touching as this scene is, its time for the next round," he said in a joking manner. Both blushed in embarrassment while Kiki gave Naruto a quick goodbye before dashing back into the crowd. "Alright since Naruto is already here, Chouji Akamichi please come to the ring," Iruka shouted.

While Chouji, a somewhat short and proudly chubby red headed boy, walked into the ring the council were speaking about the fight they had just witnessed, or rather, they were pestering Goza for details on what just happened.

"Goza-san, what exactly happened in that fight? I have never seen an academy student do something that your daughter has done," the large and brawny looking dark skinned man said. The man stood at an impressive six feet and 2 inches and was built like a bull. He was wearing a simple white shirt that in reality just acted like a second skin along with a brown apron covered in ash marks. Finishing his look was a pair of black boots and brown pants.

"Now why would I ruin the fun of a mystery, Seido-san?" asked the demon with a cheeky grin. "If I were to ask you how you forged your greatest weapons would you simply tell me without hesitation?" asked the demon.

Seido along with some of the others chuckled at that. "Point taken, Goza-san. I'd put myself out of business if everyone in Konoha knew how to make weapons. What use is a blacksmith in a village full of them?" asked the man earning some more chuckles from the group and nods of agreement.

"Regardless, skills like that are not common in an academy student," Hiashi interjected stoically, his cold white eyes boring into the round green ones of Goza's own mischievous orbs.

"Oh ho? So you think me and my family a threat eh?" chuckled the demon, the twinkle still in his eye. At this the mood immediately became uneasy. Spies were common things in the shinobi world and no village believed themselves free of them. To be accused of being a spy was a serious matter, one that could lead to bloodshed.

Hiashi merely narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps you have a guilty conscience Goza-san, I never said anything about you being a spy," he said smoothly.

Goza just chuckled at the man, "True, but I don't recall asking if you though we were spies Hiashi, I merely asked if you thought us a threat," he replied casually, a grin threatening to split his face as Hiashi inwardly seethed in anger at the demon's words while the other council members and hokage bit their tongues to keep from laughing. A simple merchant had just outsmarted Hiashi and made the Hyuuga clan head look like he was paranoid and scared of Goza's family.

"Needless to say Hiashi-san, my family is no threat to you so long as you do not give us a reason to become threatening," here the goblin let his smile take up almost all of his face, revealing those wickedly sharp white tombstone teeth. His green eyes also seemed to widen and take on an eerie yellow shine to his sclera, leaving only his pointy green ears and red fez to be seen by Hiashi for even with the Byakugan, Hiashi could only stare into that horrible smiling visage that took up everything in his sight. "I openly admit my family isn't normal but do you really want to mess with something you don't understand?" he asked in a near demented whisper that only Hiashi could hear.

However, the illusion was broken when Iruka shouted to begin and the match between Chouji and Naruto began. The Hyuuga head blinked as he noticed that no one seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. If anything, the only one who seemed to have an inkling of what happened was Goza and himself, if the giant grin on Goza's face was anything to go by. Shuddering internally, Hiashi turned to watch the fight, never once noticing the icy blue eye of death staring at him with an amused twinkle.

'_Never mess with goblins, especially Goza'_ thought Huxley with a small chuckle. _'Time to see what Naruto can do in regards to hand to hand combat'_ thought the skeleton as he turned back to the fight. He immediately frowned however when he saw how Naruto was fighting. _'This… is going to take some time to correct'_

Naruto dodged a punch sent by chouji but took the following one full in the face. The blonde reeled back before growling and flying back at the large boy with an aimless punch. The red headed boy easily blocked the punch and retaliated with a kick but Naruto dodged and punched Chouji in the face.

The Akamichi stumbled back and the blonde jinchuuriki was immediately on him, sending a flurry of kicks and punches at the larger boy, all of them thrown with no accuracy and the fury of a man possessed. For his part, the larger boy held pretty well against the onslaught but Naruto, while being a bit malnourished, had more stamina than any other student or genin as well as strength equal to Chouji. In the end, the larger boy let his guard drop and was sent flying out of the ring with Naruto's next punch.

The blonde panted a bit till he started cheering at his victory causing some to roll their eyes, giggle or just ignore the deadlast as he cheered about his victory.

"It would seem that you have your work cut out for you boya," Goza spoke up to Fredrick.

The reaper simply sighed. "I just hope Echo receives my letter sooner rather than later," muttered the undead man, "from what I've seen, Naruto has combat skills equal to what you'd find in an Irish bar fight,"

Goza merely frowned as this Echo person was mentioned. "I still don't see why you asked that slug jockey for help, you and I are perfectly capable of teaching the boy what he needs to know," the demon complained then a smile graced his face, "Besides, an Irish bar fight is quite something from what I hear, a good brawl," he stated.

Huxley just palmed his face before slowly dragging it down his face. "Why can't you let go of that one game Goza?" he moaned.

"He cheated! I just know he did! No one beats me at my own game!" declared the pudgy creature. Fredrick just sighed and rapped the demon on the head with his cane. "Ow!"

Ignoring the demon's cry of protest Fredrick continued, "Besides, Echo has more experience than any other being besides the gods themselves and we just can't go pop in on one of them and ask for training," the Huxley paused, reaching into his suit to take out a pipe that he stuffed with some tobacco and lit with a simple snap of his fingers "Naruto could learn a lot from Echo, and the boy might be able to reignite the old boy's fire," Huxley stated before placing the pipe in his mouth and taking a couple of puffs.

Goza simply sighed and allowed a sad look to grace his normally cheery visage. "That fire has been extinguished for thousands of years Huxley," the demon replied tiredly.

"Ah but the beauty of life is that it can still be relit so long as we have the proper fuel and one simple spark," replied the reaper happily. Goza just snorted but allowed a smirk to grace his features. _'As much as you claim to dislike him, he is as much your friend as he is mine'_ thought the reaper with a smile.

Time passed as the rest of the students fought with each other and when Sakura finally regained consciousness she continually shot glares of pure loathing towards Kikioko. "Alright class," Iruka called out, "next we're going to test your weapon skills!" called the chuunin. The class merely nodded and began moving towards a different field, the council not far behind.

As they walked Kikioko decided to ask Naruto what weapons assessment entailed. "Hey Whiskers-kun," she greeted as she fell into line next to him.

"Hey Kiki-chan," he greeted back, though he wondered why she insisted on calling him whiskers. _'Then again is it so bad? At least she's not calling me demon or dobe'_ mused the boy as he continued to smile at the girl. Shrugging mentally he decided not to bring it up. Why lose one of his only friends over a nickname he actually preferred?

"So…" Kiki started, putting her hands behind her back as she looked up at the blue sky, "What weapon skills do you guys learn?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.

The blonde blinked for a minute before taking up a thinking pose, one eye closed and the other screwed up to stare up and nowhere in particular while his face frowned in thought. "Well, if I remember correctly, Iruka-sensei said that all ninja should know how to use the basic weapons of the trade," the blonde said with a satisfied nod and smile.

Kiki tilted her head to the side cutely as she asked, "And what weapons are those?"

Naruto nearly fell over in surprise at that question. How could she not know about the most basic of ninja weaponry? Before he could respond though, the group had finally reached its destination and Iruka had called everyone's attention. "Alright class, first we'll test your throwing skills with kunai," here he held up a black dagger of sorts with a ring at the end of the white cloth wrapped handle and a spear like shape for the blade, " and shuriken," here the chuunin lifted his other hand to reveal a black bladed four point star like weapon with a ring in the middle. "When I call your name, take five of each and try to hit as close to the bull's-eye as possible," the teacher instructed as he gestured to the target set up about twenty yards away. "First up, Aburame Shino," he called.

While the students started, Goza and Huxley walked up to the hokage, the demon on the old man's left while Huxley was on his right. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes the aged military leader allowed a smile to grace his features. "So how are you enjoying yourselves so far?" he asked.

"I must say I'm mostly impressed with the students you have here, but there are a couple who leave more to be desired," Goza stated as he watched the Haruno girl take her turn. He frowned as he watched her do some decent throws but they were nowhere near the bulls-eye. The throws were mediocre at best.

The hokage sighed, "If you mean Shikamaru then I'm sorry but its just the way Nara men are,"

Fredrick chuckled at that, "Oh I know what you mean my friend, I remember when I had to reap a Nara, I gave him the choice of either taking the long and scenic route or be devoured," here he paused to take a puff of his pipe, "and that man, honest to God this is what he said. 'It'd be too troublesome to walk, so just hurry up and eat me so I can go back to watching the clouds'" the reaper laughed heartily while shaking his head. "Apparently I got one of the more energetic ones as other Nara souls would just ignore you in hopes you'd get bored and leave, but I digress, Shikamaru is not one of the people that need improvement," Fredrick finished.

The wizened ninja cocked an eyebrow at that, "Then you probably mean the civilian children and Naruto, correct?" he asked.

Goza nodded, his eyes never leaving the students as they tossed their weapons. "Naruto we already knew needs work and Fredrick has sent a letter to an old friend to help teach him," here the hokage's eyes widened before he put the impassive look on his face again, but he would be talking to the two later about this new person. "As for the civilian kids," they watched as a kid failed miserably at trying to hit the bulls-eye, Goza frowning slightly at the display, "They need a hell load of work if Naruto is deemed the dead last of his class," the green skinned man stated.

The hokage gave a sigh, "I've known this for a while now, but every attempt at rectifying the problem was blocked by the council," a slow smile started to spread across his features, "But not anymore. That's why I'm here now, so I can see how much change will be needed," the man finished with a grin.

Meanwhile, the females of the class, sans one red head and one blue haired girl, erupted into cheers as Sasuke Uchiha had just scored near perfect, hitting the bulls-eye 8 out of 10 times, quite the accomplishment for an academy student of two years. Iruka had merely nodded and complimented the boy before calling the next student. "Kikioko Atezuiryo," he called.

Kiki was about to go before she felt a hand pulling on her own. Turning she saw Naruto giving her a fox like smile. "Good luck Kiki-chan," he said.

Kiki merely giggled and smirked back at the blonde before heading up to the chuunin instructor.

Wordlessly, Iruka handed the kunai and shuriken over to Kikioko before stepping back, just in case. The girl stared at the kunai in her hand for a few seconds, testing its weight and balance. Nodding to herself the girl set the shuriken down and grabbed the other four kunai in her right hand as her left was reared back to launch the kunai. Everyone watched as the girl stood stock still, not moving an inch and her blue eye never leaving the target.

Suddenly, her left hand launched the kunai from her hand, sending the kunai screaming towards the target at an amazing speed and the knife was followed almost immediately by the other four kunai.

Thunk! ThuThuThuThunk!

Everyone stared amazed at the bull's-eye that had five kunai in it, all of them dead center. Kiki smiled at her accomplishment before reaching for the shuriken and readying to throw them.

Everyone waited with bated breath to see how she would do with the bladed stars. Kiki frowned as she reeled her arm back to throw the stars in one go. This time she hesitated for a split second before launching the stars. What happened next, no one expected.

Two of the shuriken flew straight and true and landed slightly outside the innermost ring of the target however three veered way off course and were whistling straight towards the hokage, Goza and Fredrick.

However before the hokage could ready himself to catch them and before Huxley could take evasive action (hide behind hokage) three green blurs shot from the sleeves of Goza's robe and struck all three throwing stars and pinned them to the ground, for the blurs had curved themselves towards the ground upon release.

The blurs, upon pinning themselves along with the shuriken into the ground, were revealed to be simple throwing knives, but they had a green sheen to them.

"Ah! Sorry! I'm not used to throwing those things! I'm really sorry Tou-san!" Kiki apologized franticly as she ran over to retrieve the knives and shuriken.

Goza merely laughed at the girls concern as he walked up to retrieve his weapons.

"Relax girly, you know how much I love to throw my knives around, besides this is a ninja village ne? Gotta keep on our toes some how," Goza stated waving his hands in a dismissive manner. Retrieving his knives he ruffled the girl's hair and said, "Besides that was some nice throwing you did, minus these babies of course," he complimented her as he gestured to the throwing stars.

Iruka had finally come over and was trying to apologize to Goza, but the demon waved him off. "Don't worry about it boya, but if you really want to make it up to me than you'll let me teach these kids a thing or two about knife work from time to time," the demon stated with a grin.

Iruka blinked at that while everyone but Kiki, Fredrick and the hokage stared at him strangely. "Umm, I'm sorry but I don't think you have the appropriate skill to teach these guys, I mean while what you did in stopping those shuriken was impressive you're not a ninja so…" the goblin rolled his eyes and proceeded to produce a pair of the strange green daggers from his sleeves.

"Fine, then I'll just show you what this merchant is capable of," Goza stated. "Pick a target, any target at all, and I'll hit it," Iruka just stared at him. The demon sighed before barking out, "Naruto! Pick a target,"

The blonde jumped in surprise for a second before blinking. Thinking for a second, the blonde looked around for a challenging target before his eyes landed on the jounin smoking a cigarette. "Hey! Jounin-san with the cigarette," he called. "Come over here real quick,"

Asuma, for that was his name, blinked before shrugging and walking over to the jinchuuriki. "What do you want kid?" he asked kindly.

"Can I borrow one of your cigarettes?" he asked. Asuma blinked and looked over to the hokage for support. The old fire shadow merely shrugged before giving a slight nod. The jounin wordlessly handed Naruto one of the death sticks and watched in wonder as the blonde dashed off towards a tree that was a hundred yards away from the main group.

"Alright Pointy Ears, I challenge you to nail this cigarette from where you are with one of those knives!" Naruto hollered at the demon, excited to see just what this guy could do. The blonde may be loud but he wasn't a fool. He recognized skill when e saw it and to take down three shuriken with three daggers all aimed for their rings and curved towards the ground… yeah that took skill that wasn't seen a lot.

The demonic peddler laughed heartily at this. "Alright boya! Don't flinch or you may end up like Huxley here!" he shouted back. With a face splitting grin, Goza grabbed the dagger in his right hand by its blade and drew back for the throw. Silence… then…

With speed that could rival the Hiraishin and Gai's top speed, Goza threw both knives and imbedded in the tree Naruto was next to, was two halves of a cigarette, the top half perfectly balanced on the blade while the bottom was embedded in the tree by the second green dagger.

For a while, there was silence as Goza just smirked at the gob smacked expressions of everyone around him. Then the silence was shattered by our favorite orange loving shinobi.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs, all the while jumping around in excitement.

"Hahaha! That's not even the best part Naruto boya!" Goza called back. The group looked confused except for Fredrick and Kiki, who merely smiled.

Naruto however stopped jumping around when he heard that. "What do you mean Pointy Ears?" he shouted back. The merchant just grinned and pointed at the tree behind Naruto. Curious, Naruto turned to face the tree and went slack jawed at what had happened to it.

The wood had become white and dead while the leaves had become black and shriveled, and were falling to the ground in droves, disintegrating before they hit the ground.

Naruto stepped back in sheer amazement at what he was seeing while everyone had varying amounts of surprise on their faces. The hokage was especially amazed. "What the hell kind of poison did he just use?" he whispered to himself, but the pale man next to him heard it all the same.

"That my friend was no poison," the reaper stated. "That was youki, more specifically, Goza's youki,"

The hokage blinked as he watched Iruka and Goza discuss possible times when the merchant could come teach the kids knife work. "What exacty do you mean by his youki, Fredick? I thought youki was simply the demon form of chakra," the hokage aasked surprised.

Fredrick merely laughed. "True but there are a lot of differenced between chakra and youki, but that is a lesson for another day," he stated. Sarutobi seemed a bit put off by the quick dismissal of his inquiries but he could wait. Today promised to be exciting enough, the last thing the old man needed was a lesson in demons. Sighing in seeming disappointment the hokage watched as the last student went up to the throwing range, the last student just happened to be one Naruto Uzumaki.

Excited and inspired by the earlier display Goza had put on, Naruto grabbed the kunai with a wide smile, his blue eyes glinting with excitement. However before the blonde threw his kunai and shuriken with reckless abandon like he usually would, he stopped and thought for a second. _'Kiki-chan and Pointy ears stopped and did something before they threw their weapons'_ thought the boy, the picture of Kiki standing with the knife poised to throw and her eyes locked onto the target flashing through his mind. Slowly, the blonde placed all the weapons down except for one kunai.

Slowly, Naruto raised the knife in a throwing position and locked his eyes onto the target, more specially, the red center of the target. Naruto ignored the stares of incredulity and curiosity he was receiving, ignored the mutterings that spoke against him.

Then, the blonde felt a tug, an instinct telling him to throw, and so he did. The knife whistled through the air at an impressive speed and…

THUNK!

Everyone who had known of Naruto's skills were stunned, shocked, flabbergasted even, but none more so than Naruto was. The kunai had hit the bullseye dead center.

For a moment, Naruto just stood there, slightly slack jawed before he quickly grabbed the next knife and repeated the process, this time slightly faster. The knife flew through the air and once again hit dead center.

Excited beyond belief, the blonde grabbed the last three knives and fired them all in quick succession. Sadly, the knives did not hit the center but they instead bordered the innermost ring, while this in it self was fairly average, it was an accomplishment of grand proportions for the dead last who would be lucky just to hit the outer most ring with _one_ kunai.

Naruto, who could barely contain his excitement, quickly grabbed the shuriken and once again took aim before throwing. Feeling the tug once more, the blonde fired all five shuriken in quick succession and watched in wonder as two landed in the bullseye while the rest landed along the second innermost ring. Again, it was rather average if not a little below but to Naruto, it was one of his greatest accomplishments in life so far, second only to making a friend in Kikioko.

"YATTA! I'm so freakin awesome!" shouted the blonde ecstatically, fist pumped in the air as he began to jump around in celebration at his accomplishment. A good portion of the group present either rolled their eyes at the deadlast or laughed in amusement at the blonde's antics.

'_Hehehe, I knew this kid was interesting. I'm gonna be making bank sooner than I thought if this keeps up'_ Goza thought with a grin as he rubbed his hands together greedily.

'_Well it seems Naruto is an observational and kinetic learner'_ Fredrick mused.

"Way to go Whiskers!" Kiki shouted while giving her friend a slap on the back in congratulations.

Naruto just grinned, but it soon vanished at the next words of Iruka. "Alright class, now that weapons is done, we'll be doing a ninjutsu assessment so I want everybody to come up and henge themselves into whatever form they wish," Iruka stated.

This time, the students just lined up in no particular order. This allowed Kiki and one extremely twitchy Naruto to stay in the back. This didn't go unnoticed by Kiki so the girl decided to ask what was bugging the young jinchuuriki.

"Why ya twitchin' so bad, Whiskers-kun?" she asked, head once again tilted to the side in confusion.

The blonde jumped a bit at the question and mentally debated whether or not to tell her. Sighing the blonde turned to her and replied, "I suck at ninjutsu," he admitted with a shamed look, Kiki blinked but opted to remain silent until the boy finished.

Seeing that Kiki was waiting the boy sighed. "I can't make a clone to save my life, they always come out wrong, and that's putting it mildly," he began, "My substitution isn't too bad but I always just end up making the object I'm switching with either break apart or just appear in front of me like a shield, I can never switch with it properly," here the blonde grimaced, remembering how the log he had used last time just exploded from chakra overload. Some students still couldn't remove some of their splinters.

"So what about this Henge thing?" asked the Atezuiryo as she watched another student transform into a replica of Iruka. "I don't blame you if you can't do that one, it looks hard for those who aren't shapeshifters," she commented.

Naruto threw up his hands in annoyance at hearing that. "That's what I told Iruka-sensei, but he keeps saying that it's the easiest one out of all three!" ranted the blonde. "How the hell is it easier to change into something than it is to switch places with a god damned log!"

SMACK

"ITAIII!" shouted the blonde who was now holding his head in pain on the ground.

"Thou shalt not speak ill of the most holy log!" declared the loud voice of Sarutobi Hiruzen as he brandished a brown leather book with a log on it above his head. The aged hokage however was dressed in black priest robes instead of his usual hokage robes and he wasn't wearing his hat which let everyone see his mostly bald head and the white hair that stood straight out on the sides of his head along with his perfectly pointed white beard. All in all, he looked a bit demented and ridiculous without the hat, but that's just this author's opinion (And mine!-Echo)

Goza just blinked before erupting into raucous laughter at the sight before him as the old fire shadow began lecturing young Naruto about the holiness that is the log. The demon had been listening in on the conversation and relaying their words to both Sarutobi and Fredrick so that they could get a grasp on where Naruto was in regards to ninjutsu. None of them were surprised the boy couldn't do the basic **Bunshin no Jutsu, **as the technique needed only a small amount of chakra to work but because Naruto had a bijuu in him, he'd never be able to do the simple clone technique without years of chakra control practice and even then it would be like forcing a tsunami through a straw. Then when they heard about the substitution problem they had been slightly concerned, well Fredrick and Goza had been concerned while Sarutobi went into respectful mourning for the death of the log.

However both Fredrick and Goza had been surprised to hear the boy had trouble with the **Henge. **The boy had a Kitsune sealed in him, transformation should be a simple thing for him! Heck, it should be easy for any tailed beast jinchuuriki period! Their demons could alter their from whenever they wished so shape shifting should be no real challenge for ones such as them!

"Umm hokage-sama," Iruka spoke nervously. Hiruzen stopped his preaching of the log and turned to face the chuunin. "As important as it is to respect the log we really need to assess both Naruto and Kikioko and time is running a short soo…" here he trailed off with a nervous grin.

The man merely nodded before walking back to stand at the forefront of his group once more, still in his priest robes. "Right then," Iruka stated awkwardly, "Since time is running out, Naruto, you and Kiki will go at the same time," he stated. "Kiki if you can't do the jutsu then that's fine as you are a new student,"

"Eh, I'll give it a shot, I think I get the basic concept," the girl chirped. With that, the red head did the seals she had seen the others perform while simultaneously gathering her chakra to perform what she wanted. Finishing the girl proclaimed "**Henge!"** and was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared there stood a replica of Naruto. However, the girl was missing a whisker mark on each cheek and the hair color was still red plus she was missing the prayer beads that were around the original's neck.

"Very good work for a first timer," Iruka complimented the girl as she released the technique with a burst of smoke that dispersed to reveal a smiling Kikioko. The teacher then turned to Naruto. "Now its your turn Naruto and no funny business, got it?" stated the chuunin to the boy.

"Yeah, yeah give it a rest," Nauto said with a dismissive wave, "You're like an old lady you know that right?" the boy inquired cheekily. Te chuunin glared at the blonde as several tic marks developed on his head while everyone else just giggled. "Alright lets do this!" Naruto declared before putting his hands in the tora seal. "**Henge!**" shouted the boy. Once again, smoke appeared and engulfed the Uzumaki when it cleared it showed a rather… interesting sight.

Naruto was still Naruto… somewhat but the hair had become long and was divided into two side ponytails and his face had taken softer features, feminine actually. That was actually the best word to describe Naruto's transformation, for the Uzumaki had henged into a girl! Thankfully he… she… Naruto was clothed but dang! Naruto made a pretty cute girl!

Iruka blinked at the henge before sighing in exasperation. "Naruto, while this is a fairly decent henge you've missed the entire concept of it,"

"Eh?" exclaimed the blonde before shifting back into original form, causing the eyes of Fredrick and Goza to widen in surprise. "What do you mean missed the point! I transformed just like you told us to!" he shouted.

"True and its definitely an improvement but the entire point of the henge is to take on a different form altogether, not a female version of yourself," seeing the depressed look settling over Naruto, Iruka sighed before smiling at the boy, "Though I do commend your ability to do it with only the tora handsign," he finished warmly. The blonde grinned in response to this. Iruka merely shook his head at them, "Alright class, head on back inside for the written part then head home, I'll have your rankings up tomorrow," he called. Turning the instructor bowed to the council, "If that is all hokage-sama I will hae their test scores on your desk withing the next few hours should you require them," he stated formerly.

The hokage, who had changed back to his kage robes, merely chuckled at the chuunin, "That would be good if you could get them to me as soon as you can but don't rush the children to do it,"

"Hai, as you wish sir," Iruka replied before bowing and walking off with his group. Nodding to himself, the old fire shadow made a half tiger seal before vanishing in a swirl of leaves along with the rest of the council in a mass shushin. It was time to determine the future of the Academy.

**A/N: And done! Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I got hung up on writing this and well, life in general. Fun fact though, I figured out I can go from one side of my town to the other in about an hour so long as I keep a steady pace and move in a straight line. Anyway read and review and be sure to check out my other stories!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Me no own Naruto!... or any other franchise… It sucks being a nobody…**

The council exited their shushin mere seconds after the hokage performed it and were now heading towards the council room, discussing various things as they went. Soon the group had made there way into the council chambers, each taking whatever seat they wished as there was much more empty chairs now and no real seating order.

"Right then," the hokage started, rapping a knuckle against his desk to gather everyone's attention. "Now that we have seen the students first hand, are there any comments, questions or concerns you wish to voice before we go about making changes to the academy?"

Goza raised one hand and rose to speak. "What exactly do you teach at the academy?" asked Goza in a curious voice. "From what I saw, it feels… lacking I suppose," spoke the demon.

Sarutobi nodded at that. "Originally, the academy taught basic academic skills that are essential on the field such as mathematics, anatomy and history along with how to mould chakra, survival skills such as hunting and navigation. It was also to teach basic stealth techniques, basic taijutsu, the three jutsu of **Henge, Kawarimi** and **Bunshin no jutsu. **Originally, this was supposed to last for six years in addition to physical conditioning, weapon skills and chakra theory, but then the wars started and the time had to be shortened and some lessons cut or shortened to the briefest of explanations, sadly they were never changed back," Sarutobi finished solemnly.

"Why were these methods not reinstated?" asked the head of the ANBU division.

"At first, it was because after the Second Shinobi War, too many things had to be done," Sarutobi answered, "My indictment as hokage, coupled with securing the village and the repairs needed in the area caused me and the council to forget about the academy for a time, when I finally remembered the council had already taken off a year and cut out chakra theory," Sarutobi sighed "It just went downhill from there as the second war dragged on," here Hiruzen grew quiet. "Uzugakure was destroyed and we had to move the Kyuubi container here, as for the rest of the people of Uzu, they were scattered all over the nations, but I digress," Sarutobi paused for a moment. "Once again, cuts were made to the academy and it wasn't a good time until after things had settled down that I realized the academy had been altered for the worst," Sarutobi sighed. "I had hoped Minato, the Fourth Hokage, would make the changes, but once again a war arose and the academy became worse due to negligence. Afterwards, the council at the time had somehow taken control of it and started coddling the students, which was just plain stupid," Sarutobi said with exasperation.

"True enough," Fredrick spoke up, "Around that time, genin death rates started to go up, despite the large number of them that graduated, it went down but it still remained at a rather alarming number," spoke the harvester, "Why is that?" he finished with a curious gleam in his one eye.

Sarutobi smiled sadly at that. " Like I said the students became coddled, the academy became more academic and taught bare minimum of practical skills and because of that the exit exam became fairly simple," here he sighed before continuing, "At that time, all that was needed was to pass the exit exam, thus every genin who passed became a ninja with a jounin sensei. It was only later on that the second genin exam was instituted to weed out those not yet ready," Sarutobi finished.

Goza nodded at that before he asked his next question, "All well and good, but why did you not change the academy back to its original curriculum? Surely the deaths must have been a good indicator that something needed change"

"That is because of the following time of peace," answered the hokage, "with Konoha standing as the winner of not one, but two wars, none wanted to go against us and the village was flooded with mission requests," Sarutobi sighed, "The Fourth was a great man but he became blindsided by all these requests and meetings of lords to actually have time to run the village, as such, the council took over and because of the peace, they did not feel it necessary to change much and instead grew more interested in lining their pockets," Sarutobi stated.

"But what about when the Kyuubi came? Surely that must have opened some of the council's eyes," Fredrick pointed out. Here the council all looked away from the demon or withdrew more into themselves.

Goza took note and narrowed his eyes. "You still didn't see the danger?" he asked, disbelief lacing his voice.

Surprisingly, it was not the hokage who answered. "We had become arrogant, too secure in the idea nothing could harm us," Fugaku spoke softly, but his voice carried into the ears of everyone as though he were standing right in front of them all. "Rather than opening our eyes, the attack angered many of us, we saw it as blasphemy if you will, we believed no one could harm us, yet what should have been a horrible lesson in reality, only seemed to fuel the idea that could attack us without consequence," Fugaku looked down in shame as he continued, "It is the reason that boy is so hated and tortured so often, the reason he is forced to live in hell is because he reminds us that we are mortal, that we can be killed like anyone else," he paused for a moment. "We hate him, because he reminds us that we are humans,"

Goza and Fredrick couldn't believe their ears and thought it some kind of joke, yet as they looked around, they could see it was true. From Tsume's angry growling and refusal to look anyone in the eye, to the slight light of sadness and anger that appeared in his pale eyes. "That's…" Goza just couldn't put his thoughts to words. Fredrick on the other hand had no such problems.

"Then it is a good thing we came, and an even better reason for contacting Echo," spoke the reaper, "It is time this place received a reality check and we will deliver it," he stated.

Sarutobi nodded in agreement a slow smile coming to his lips. "Too true, we have already prepared for the journey, now it is time to take the first step," he spoke, "We have stayed too long in this paradise and have overstepped the boundaries and corrupted it, now is the time to take the first step on our road to redemption," Sarutobi looked up, a confident smirk on his lips and a fire burning in his wizened eyes, "I propose we reinstate the old curriculum, all in favor?"

Not a single hand was down.

**Naruto's home**

BEEP! BEEP! BEE-

SMASH!

"Why the hell do I set that thing on the weekends anyway?" Naruto mumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Yawning the blonde scratched his chest before swinging himself out of bed and getting dressed into a black T-shirt and some loose blue jeans. He smiled slightly as he pulled the clothes on and put on a black leather belt and snapping on his kunai and shuriken holster to the back. A lot had happened in the week following that night he was saved by Fredrick, and to Naruto, most of them were very welcome changes indeed.

One of the first and foremost was the fact that he actually had clothes to wear and food that wasn't rotten and was actually healthy. Oh he was still blacklisted at most of the stores but he didn't care because if he needed anything, Goza would be more than willing to sell it to him at a reasonable price.

Naruto grinned as he walked out of his room and entered his bathroom and began the morning ritual of washing face and brushing teeth. As he did, the boy reflected over some of the other good things that had happened to him since that night.

For one, he was actually being taught stuff, both in and outside of the academy. He actually understood the academic stuff like math and history and was getting better grades because of it. He was also starting to get a lot better at his more practical skills, like throwing weapons and taijutsu. He was nowhere near as good as Kiki and no way in hell was anywhere close to Goza but considering how his skills were BEFORE they came, it was a big improvement.

Leaving the bathroom, the boy caught the scent of eggs and he couldn't help but grin as he walked into the kitchen where he beheld a rather interesting sight. "Ohayo, Fredrick-sosofu!" Naruto greeted the black cloaked figure that was standing at his stove.

Hearing his voice Fredrick turned around, revealing that he was wearing a chef hat and apron. "And a good morning to you as well Naruto," the third Huxley greeted warmly, causing a gigantic smile to spread across the jinchuriiki's face. "Hurry up and eat Naruto, Goza expects us at the shop for tea," Fredrick said in his posh tone as he set a plate of sausage and eggs down in front of Naruto.

With a grin, Naruto dug into the plate of food heartily. Another wonderful thing, was the fact Naruto had more people in his life that he could count as… well he still hadn't found a word to describe them but they were important to him, that much was sure!

Finishing his meal the blonde grabbed his orange jacket and followed his guarian out of the apartment, with Fredrick shifting into his human form and locking the door with a special key. The door flashed white before a small skull with an open mouth replaced the keyhole. Naruto had yet to learn whit it was but Fredrick had assured him that none, sans another reaper or someone with similar skills.

As they walked down the roads towards Goza's shop, Naruto's smile faltered at the glares sent their direction. Naruto had long become accustomed to the glares, but what made him frown was the fact that Fredrick was also being glared at. That was the only bad thing that happened after Fredrick saved him, at least it was as far as Naruto could see.

It was known to all that the newcomers were fond of Naruto and freely associated with him. As such, the newcomers were held in disdain, as in Goza didn't receive a whole ton of service, Kikioko was treated as an outcast just like Naruto by the majority of the academy and Fredrick was denied service by the majority of shops. It was a lucky thing that Goza's shop sold just about everything, and that included food and clothes.

"Here we are Naruto," Fredrick stated kindly as the two stopped in front of a simple building. It was one story tall with a sign across the top that said "Little Shop of Horrors" in black kanji. There was a small display window that showed the inside of the shop with a sign in the bottom left corner that said "OPEN"

"Come on boy, we can admire the shop later. Besides, its what's on the inside that counts!" Fredrick called cheerily. The blonde boy nodded before grinning and following his surrogate great grandfather into the shop.

As the pair entered, a bell sounded over the doorway signaling their arrival. As they stepped in the place seemed rather ordinary, for the most part there were some clothing racks, some ninja supplies near the back and some weapons but what made the place different was the "unique" weapons and items that took up the rest of the area. These objects included but were not limited to: voodoo dolls, books on demons and monsters, macabre masks of varying designs and color and of course, accessories and jewelry many would find… disturbing. In the corner of the store was a simple checkout desk with a door that led into the back of the store.

"Welcome to the- Oh, hey Fred, midget," said a voice over at the counter. Naruto whirled around in anger and jumped on the counter to glare angrily at the object of his ire. The object in question was a rather plain looking individual in a grey custodian jumpsuit with a matching hat and brown working boots. The man had brown hair and an ordinary skin complexion but that's where it ended.

While Fredrick in his human form was like skin stretched tightly across a skeleton, this individual had long gangly limbs and very gaunt and sharp features, but that wasn't the weirdest part. The weirdest part was his white glowing eyes. No pupil, no sclera, just glowing white pits for eyes. Completing the look was a big black cigar clutched in his mouth.

"Who are you calling a midget you creep of a custodian?" ranted Naruto.

The custodian merely blew cigar smoke into the blonde's face and smirked. "I'm calling the brat who needs to stand on my desk to just get in my face a midget," her replied nonchalantly.

Coughing, Naruto glared at the janitor. "Would you stop blowing smoke in my face? It smells nasty and makes it hard to breathe, not unlike your regular stench garbage man!" the blonde asked angrily, only to yell in pain when the blunt end of a scythe met his skull.

"Naruto stop antagonizing Jack, and Jack please stop riling up Naruto," Fredrick told the two calmly. Naruto grumbled a response but got off the counter while Jack just smirked at him in triumph. "Now, I'm assuming Goza is waiting in the back?"

Jack's smirk seemed to grow at that. "Yup, he's also got a guest that you'll just love to see," replied the custodian. The reaper looked puzzled for a moment, before a look of surprise and excitement appeared in his eye. Jack chuckled at this and merely opened the back door for them and stepping aside. "Head on in, can't keep them waiting, right?"

Naruto, who had a look of confusion, yelped in surprise as Fredrick grabbed the boy and dashed into the back area. It was a blur for Naruto as they raced through the various hallways of the back area to a door labeled "Dining Room" upon which Fredrick came to an abrupt stop and dropped the young Uzumaki.

Knocking several times franticly, Fredrick waited until he heard the words 'come in' but as soon as he heard the first syllable he opened the door and flew into the room, with Naruto stumbling in behind, swirls in his eyes.

Shaking himself, Naruto glared at his guardian, "Oi! What the hell is wrong with you baka gaikotsu!" he yelled at his grandfather. However before he could continue he was interrupted by a sudden figure crashing into him.

"Whiskers-kun! I missed you!" yelled the figure that was now cuddling into Naruto, who was still not used to such treatment. Mostly because he couldn't figure out if she was squeezing so hard because she missed him or because she wanted to kill him.

"Ah! Kiki-chan! Can't breathe!" Naruto gasped to his red headed friend. He immediately sighed in relief and took a couple breathes when he felt the crushing force of Kikioko's death hug release. He smirked at the sheepishly smiling girl and chuckled. "Do you have to do that every time? You're gonna break my back one of these days!"

Kiki pouted at this, "But its fun! Besides it's not that bad is it?" she whined.

"Tell that to my fractured spine," deadpanned the blonde which in turn caused Kikioko to giggle and Naruto to smile.

"Ah, nothing like young love, right Fredrick?" said the voice of Goza causing both children to whirl around and glare at the greedy demon with blushes on their faces.

"WE'RE NOT LIKE THAT!" they both yelled in unison. Goza just laughed in reply to their outburst. It was then that Naruto noticed an unfamiliar face in the room. The unfamiliar was male and had lightly tanned skin and shoulder length shaggy dirty blonde hair that looked like he just got out of bed. This image was further inforced by the bags under the man's hazel green eyes, or at least Naruto thought they were hazel green. It was hard to see with the hair that covered his eyes. From what he could see, the man was wearing a red zip up sweatshirt and strapped to his back on a leather strap that went from his right shoulder to left hip was a… shovel?

"Uh, who the heck is that guy?" Naruto asked pointing at the man.

WHACK

"ARRG! Would you stop hitting me with that damn stick already!" yeled the blonde at Fredrick.

"You little brat! I remember a time when children were respectful and didn't use such foul language with their elders present! Why back in my day-" Fredrick was about to start one of his rants again when the voice of the man stopped him.

"Relax Hux, he's just a kid," the man said in a voice that held an odd mixture of warmth and weariness. Looking over at the blonde jinchuuriki the man smiled. "Yo, name's Echo, just Echo," he greeted.

Naruto blinked and tilted his head with a frown on his face as he started to think. After a time his eyes brightened with realization, "Ah! You must be the slug jockey Pointy Ears talks about!" he exclaimed with a proud smile on his face.

Echo chuckled at the boy. "That's me, but come on we can talk some more over some food," he replied while gesturing for Naruto to take a seat at the round oaken table and was soon followed by Kikioko who sat right next to him while Fredrick sat across from Goza. Across from Naruto was the newly introduced Echo.

"Sooo…" Naruto started trying to break the silence before it could truly settle, "where's the food?" he asked.

Goza just grinned before snapping his fingers. Immediately several pairs of floating white gloves appeared and began setting platters of food in front of the group. It was a fairly modest spread with some sandwiches dango and soup set up for the people.

"What about drinks?" asked Naruto. Goza just shrugged, "Jut tell them what you want and they'll get it to you," the demon supplied before asking for some sake. Immediately a white hand came with a bottle and dish for the demonic merchant.

Fredrick asked for some tea with two lumps (Naruto nor Kikioko knew what that meant) while the children simply asked for some lemonade. Echo on the other hand merely reached into his sweatshirt pocket and pulled out a bottle with letters on it that Naruto didn't recognize. They obviously weren't kanji that's for sure.

Echo smiled as he popped the cap off the bottle and sighed in contentment, as he smelled the drink. However he didn't take a drink as Naruto was staring at him, or rather he thought it might be him. The dirty blonde moved the bottle to the right and Naruto's eyes followed it intensely. Blinking, Echo picked it up and moved it to the left. Again, Naruto's eyes followed. Sighing Echo set the bottle down and smirked alightly as the blonde boy had still yet to take his eyes off the bottle.

"Ok kid, mind telling me why you're eyeing my root beer like that?" Echo asked. Naruto blinked and shifted his curious blue eyes to stare at Echo's hazel ones. "If you're going to ask for a drink then the answer is no,"

"Eh?" NAruto exclaimed, "NO! No i… I was just wondering…" here Naruto paused before pointing at the bottle, "what are those letters on that bottle? They aren't knaji and they don't look demonic so…" Naruto trailed off.

Fredrick laughed at this and spoke, "Don't worry about it Naruto, you'll get your answers and more when the both of you start training later today,"

There was a pause then, "THIS GUY IS GONNA BE MY SENSEI?" Naruto shouted while pointing an indignant finger at the guy.

Echo sighed as he sipped his drink. "I'm already tired of him," he muttered.

**Training field 73**

An hour later found Naruto and company in training field number seventy three. It was a fairly out of the way area and it was mostly desolate of life. The ground was mostly fry earth with some petrified grey trees that jutted into the sky like the jagged teeth of monsters. It was a good forty-five minutes away from the village and hardly anyone trained here. Many of the local shinobi referred to it as the Bone yard.

Currently, Naruto and Echo were facing one another in the middle of the field while Kiki, Goza and Fredrick were seated off to the right a ways so they would not be in the way.

"So what are we gonna do first?" Naruto asked, excitement dotting his words and tone.

Echo merely closed his eyes and drew his shovel, revealing the handle to be made of a common wood and the head a simple iron. Naruto tensed up in preparation while Kikioko leaned in, her one eye widened in anticipation.

Echo then promptly sat on the ground, shovel resting in the junction of his neck and shoulder, eyes still closed. Naruto and Kiki face faulted while Goza chuckled and Fredrick sighed.

"OI! What the hell are you sitting down for? How the hell am I supposed to become hokage if my sensei doesn't get up an-!" Naruto ranted only to be cut off by Echo's words.

"Come at me with everything you have to try and kill me,"

That stopped Naruto cold. "You… want me to try and…" here Naruto gulped nervously, "kill you?" he finished quietly.

Echo only opened one eye and looked at the blonde through his half lidded one eyed gaze. "You'll have to kill one day, and you won't defeat your opponent unless you are willing to pull out all the stops to win," he said casually before closing his eye again.

"Yeah, but… You're my sensei! Besides isn't this just training?" Naruto excused. Echo merely shook his head in apparent disappointment.

"I need to gauge your abilities, so treat me as if I was a true enemy, not a sparring partner," Echo replied seriously. "I can't teach you if I don't know how you fight, how you think or how you handle a situation. So come at me with the intent to kill, I'll tell you when to stop," Echo finished with a soft but weary smile.

Naruto stood there, debating on whether or not to follow his sensei's orders. On the one hand, he didn't want to hurt the guy, but on the other, he couldn't disobey his new sensei right off the bat! Steeling himself, Naruto slid into a stance and got ready to charge. "Fine but don't blame me if I kill you!" Naruto said with bravado. With that, the blonde gave a cry of challenge and rushed at the seated man. Reaching his target, Naruto aimed a powerful kick at his sensei's jaw.

"Good hustle," Echo commented as he casually caught the kick, much to the shock of Naruto and amazement of Kikioko. "And there is some decent strength in this kick, but," here Echo vanished, simply vanished with no blur or smoke to show he was there, "Your attack was too direct," called his voice.

Surprised, Naruto snapped his head up and saw Echo sitting atop one of the petrified trees, one that was easily the height of a regular house. "Now lets see how you react to this challenge," Echo called to his student.

Naruto gaped for a moment before growling in annoyance at this new problem. The boy dashed towards the tree and started leaping onto the branches in order to get to the casually seated dirty blonde. "Again, good hustle and you have quite the agility and balance but," here Echo grabbed his shovel and smacked against the tree. Immediately, the dead wooden giant began to rumble, causing the blonde Uzumaki to fall back to earth with a cry of surprise. "again your attack is too direct and it is never a good idea to rush your opponent when he has the high ground," Echo lectured, much to Naruto's growing ire. "Remember, the high ground is a great strategic point but every fortress has a weakness,"

With another enraged cry, Naruto dashed towards the tree once more and once again attempted to get to his sensei. Alas, Echo simply smacked the tree once more and once agin, the shaking tree caused Naruto to lose his footing and fall to the earth. Naruto gave a cry of frustration and glared at Echo.

'_How the hell is he doing this?'_ Naruto though angrily noting that his sensei's eyes were still closed. _'He hasn't even opened his eyes once this entire time!'_ He glared at the man _'Maybe if I wait, he'll come and get me, then I'll attack!'_ the blonde thought with confidence

"That silence," Echo spoke again, "Either you are finally starting to think or you are waiting for me to attack," Naruto's eyes widened in shock. Could this guy read minds? "Unfortunately for you I don't intend to move from this spot," he said, amusement lacing his tone and a smirk tugging at his lips.

Naruto growled in anger at the man. At first he didn't want to fight this guy, but now, he was gonna kick his but from here all the way back to the village! "Shut up! I'm gonna kick your ass! Dattebayo!" roared the blonde.

Echo merely shook his head, much to Naruto's chagrin. Growling, Naruto reached behind him and grabbed several shuriken from his pouch. "Eat this!" roared the blonde, tossing seven shuriken at the man. He watched with a smirk as his shuriken flew straight and true towards their target.

BANGBANGBABABABABANG!

Naruto stared in stupid fascination as a weapon he had never seen before destroyed his shuriken. "A good idea, and I know for a fact that all but one of those shuriken would have hit me, however you'll have to be faster than that to hit me," Echo commented dryly.

For a minute Naruto just sat there with his jaw open, then, "What the hell is that thing?" he shouted pointing at the black object in the tired man's hand.

Echo finally opened his eyes and stared at the weapon in his hand with an almost guilty gaze.

"Officially, it's a Desert Eagle pistol, a weapon that fires bullets at high speeds and is effective from up to 200 meters, which is roughly 656 feet," he spoke sadly. "I've trained with this weapon for so long, that I've become a master marksman with it, but…" here he clenched the handle to the point where his knuckles turned white, "to me it's a burden. A reminder of my deeds, my past, and of all the horrors I've experienced,"

"This gun has saved my life so many times but I can't help but feel disgusted every time I hold it. All it ever does is kill, but I cannot blame the gun, nor can I blame the bullet for snuffing out those lives," he spoke and even though it was quietly, everyone heard him. "I'm the one who pulled the trigger, I'm the one who ended those lives and even when my death was imminent, when all those who died at my hand would finally get their vengeance, their family's their compensation," he paused as he stared at the black weapon, oblivious to the mesmerized stares of the children and of the concerned and upset looks of his friends, "I cheated death, became something that will never die," Echo finished.

The tired man finally stood up and once again vanished. Naruto blinked wondering where he had gone and started searching for his mysterious sensei but stopped when he heard Echo's voice. "We are done for today," it came from all across the clearing, echoing in the desolate air. "Come back tomorrow and we shall begin, until then, be safe," with that the Bone yard became silent, completely uncaring of what had transpired within its vicinity.

Narutto stood there for a while, trying to comprehend what Echo had just said. _'He… cheated death? What does that mean? What does he mean by 'can't die'?' _these thoughts and many similar to them whirled throughout the young man's mind. He was snapped from his musings when he felt a familiar weight on his shoulder. Looking up he saw the face of his guardian angel, but Fredrick refused to meet his gaze.

"Come on Naruto, it's been a long day," whispered the third Huxley. Naruto looked over to where Goza and Kikioko were and saw that the demon didn't have his usual grin, but a rather stony and blank expression, regret shining just below the surface of his round green eyes. Kiki's gaze was filled with confusion and she kept switching her gaze from Goza to the reaper.

Neither refused to answer the question shining in both blue eyed child's eyes.

'_What happened to him?'_

**A/N: Ah ha! And that is the conclusion of another chapter! There may be one more chapter of development before we finally get kick started on some real action, but bear with me it's all got a point! Anyway be sure to read and review! Ja ne!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Hey all! Sorry this took so long but I got sidetracked with other stories and such… So! Let's get cracking on this story eh?**

"Remember, water beats fire, fire beats wind, wind beats lightning, lightning beats earth, and earth beats water," Iruka told his class as he lectured them on elemental affinities. All of them were studying taking notes and memorizing what their instructor said… well most of them were.

Naruto was barely paying attention as his head rested on his arms that were lying on top of his desk. _'So bored…'_ thought the blonde. He idly watched as his teacher droned on about something or other, something to do with chakra? He didn't really know. _'Jeez, been three years and we've still got another what? Another three before we graduate? Gah! This chakra stuff hurts my head!' _he mentally complained. He gave a slight groan and buried his head in his arms, fully intent on falling asleep right then and there.

Before he could however something started poking his side. Annoyed, the blonde lifted his head and saw Kiki looking at him with a slight frown. "Don't you dare fall asleep again," she whispered.

Glancing to make sure Iruka was busy, Naruto gave his best friend a pitiful look, "Buuut Kiki-chaaaaan! I'm booooored," he whined quietly, "And learning about chakra hurts my head, dattebayo," stated Naruto.

Kiki turned to face the boy and Naruto's breath heart sped up a little when she did. While physically and clothing wise, the two had not changed much at all except for growing taller and more fit, emotion wise, Naruto viewed Kikioko differently then when they were eight.

He still saw her as his best friend in the world, make no mistake. She had stuck with him even when the other girls (sans Hinata and, surprisingly enough, Ino) started to tease and ostracize her. She still didn't know about his demon or why the villagers all glared at him, but she didn't care and still stayed as his friend. It was because this that Naruto developed a crush on the girl.

"So sit up and pay attention or I'll tell Fredrick-Jiijii you've been slacking in your academics," Kiki told him, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts. He paled when he registered what his friend just said.

"You wouldn't dare," he whispered. Kiki just turned to smirk at him, her only visible eye gleaming with mischief. "Try me Whiskers-kun," she whispered.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Kikioko Atezuiryo! Stop flirting and pay attention!" Iruka yelled at the two, inwardly smirking as the two blushed deep red and yelled their usual response in perfect unison. _'Serves em right for their last escapade, still don't know how they did it'_ mentally thought Iruka. _'Seriously, how did they catch all those squirrels and where does a person get that much tapioca pudding?'_

As the day rolled on, clouds started to cover the sky, dark grey ones that seemed heavy with rain. When it came round to lunch, the clouds had finally burst and the falling rain was accompanied by distant sounds of thunder. As such, the students ate inside.

Sasuke immediately left to find a quiet place to eat, meaning, he went to find somewhere to hide so his fan club wouldn't find or follow him. Unfortunately for him, Ino and Sakura went straight after Sasuke along with almost every other girl in the class. Soon, the room was empty except for Naruto, Kiki, Hinata, Shino, Kiba and his dog, Chouji and Shikamaru.

Over the three years, this group of ninja in training became a pretty good group of friends. It was mostly due to Kiki though. She was the one who had invited both Shino and Kiba to eat with them, while Naruto had noticed Hinata all alone and invited her. Kiki befriending Chouji eventually brought in Shikamaru because the two were already close friends.

"Ah! Time to eat! I'm starved, ttebayo!" Naruto declared, "Ne, ne, Kiki-chan can I have my food now?" he asked.

The red head merely rolled her eyes and smiled at him, "Ok, ok, but I don't understand why you're so excited," she laughed as she reached for her backpack under the desk. "It's just the same thing everyday anyway," she said as she brought out a bowl of nice hot ramen.

"Yeah, but ramen is the best thing in the world!" he declared while grabbing the bowl and chopsticks, putting his hands together he gave a jubilant "Itadakimasu!" before breaking his chopsticks apart and devouring the ramen. In all reality he had slowed and learned some etiquette, but he still devoured ramen at a pace that left people amazed.

Shaking her head Kiki reached back into her bag and withdrew her own food, a bento box of rice, sushi and dumplings. Muttering the same prayer as Naruto, she too started to eat but at a much slower pace than her friend. "Besides, didn't Echo-sensei tell you to eat something else besides ramen?" she asked.

Naruto merely rolled his eyes at her and stopped eating, a noodle hanging out the side of his mouth. "I'll eat something other than ramen when he drinks something other than that root beer stuff of his, ttebayo," with that he sucked the noodle hanging from his mouth and said, "Besides, there's no way I'm listening to the advice of a guy I don't even know," he stated.

"You still have no idea who he is and you've been training with him for like what? Three years now?" Kiba asked as he took another bite from his jerky. "Shouldn't you at least know something about the guy by now?"

"It's obvious this Echo guy doesn't want people to know about him, so why bother?" spoke up Shikamaru.

"Aw come on Shika, don't tell me you're not at least a little curious?" spoke up Chouji. The black haired boy merely mumbled "troublesome," before continuing to eat his bento.

"It is most curious," Shino stated simply.

"Aw come on Whiskers-kun, Echo-sensei isn't that bad," Kiki said.

"Yeah but in the three years we've known him what have we learned?" asked Naruto,

Kiki tilted her head to the side, put a finger to her chin, and let her eyes stare upwards in what Naruto had dubbed the 'Kiki contemplation pose' "Welll…" she started, "He constantly drinks that root beer stuff, he always wears that red zip-up sweatshirt, he always has that shovel with him and he's not that social," Kiki finished with a cute smile and closed eyes.

"A-Ano, he, he also se-seems quite, um, tired," Hinata spoke up.

"What do you mean tired?" asked Kiba, "Like, Shikamaru tired or... what?"

"No, sensei can be lazy but, only when he doesn't have anything to do," Kiki stated.

"Dad usually says he's a pretty hard worker," Chouji stated, "But he said he seems um… world weary?"

""Whats world weary mean?" asked Naruto, long since finished with his first bowl and looking at Kiki with wide pleading eyes. She just giggled and handed him another bowl from her bag.

"It means tired of life," Shikamaru explained. "My dad said the same thing, he also said that he's either normally that way or something really bad happened in his life."

"The question is what? What could cause such a reaction in a person?" stated Shino.

Before they could answer the bell rang, signifying the end of lunch. Naruto groaned, "Great! More work!" The others chuckled, before heading back to their seats. Soon the rest of the class had joined, but instead of Iruka, only Mizuki, their silver haired assistant teacher walked in.

"Sorry guys, but Iruka got called away so I'll be taking over for the rest of the day," said the grey haired man with a grin. The students shrugged as they got back to work, but once again Naruto drifted off and found himself thinking about the last three years, well, he started thinking about what he had learned.

Naruto had learned a lot, but he still hadn't learned what he wanted to learn which meant he hadn't learned any super cool flashy jutsu. However, he did learn some good practical skills from Fredrick, Echo and even Goza.

From Fredrick, Naruto learned academics, etiquette and, this Naruto found odd, 'thief techniques' as Fredrick called them. Naruto had laughed when he learned that he of all people would teach him how to be a thief, but he stopped laughing when Fredrick swiped his wallet Gama-chan while he had been laughing. The blonde later realized that 'thief techniques' involved breaking into homes, picking pockets, stealth and even picking locks.

Naruto remembered when he asked how Huxley knew all this.

**Flashback, three years ago in Naruto's Apartment**

"Hey, Fredrick-jiji," Naruto asked, "How come you know so much about being a thief?"

The undead man chuckled and replied, "Believe it or not, I was Britain's greatest thief," he stated. "Back in my day, i stole some of the most priceless paintings and jewels of all time and I was never caught until my nosy neighbor snooped her way into my trophy room," Fredrick finished with a grumble. "Bloody she-hag turned me in not even five minutes later,"

"Wow! Wait, how long did you go to jail for?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Ha! I wish I had gone to jail, but when you've stolen both the king's crown from on top of his and the queen's undergarments, they don't send you to jail," Huxley laughed.

"What did they do then?" asked Naruto.

"They strung me up from the Gallows of course, made me dance the dead man's jig while, had me where the hangman's necktie! They hung me mah boy, and in front of everyone," Huxley exclaimed with over exaggerated movements, "They even tried to make me give a formal apology but instead, I just stared at the man, an the next thing he knew, his wallet is in my dead hands,"

"You stole his wallet when he was about t hang you?" asked Naruto in disbelief.

"With a smile on my face, my boy," Huxley declared proudly.

**End Flashback**

Who knew the pish posh Reaper was a master thief and a pervert to boot when he was alive? Guess death changes people… or maybe a thousand years of straight work? Eh, either way, Fredrick wasn't a pervert anymore. Still, he thought it was weird how the scholar was teaching him to be a thief. Then again, he was just as surprised when he learned what Echo was going to teach him

**Flashback, The Boneyard**

"You're going to teach me what?" exclaimed Naruto as he sat across from his sensei who winced slightly at the volume.

"I said I'm teaching you strategy and tactics, some chakra control exercises and some basic reaper techniques," Echo said calmly.

"But how the hell can you teach me reaper techniques? You're not a reaper!" Naruto accused.

Echo just stared at Naruto and sighed before snapping hid fingers. Immediately, the man was enveloped in a grey cloak that seemed to materialize on his body. It was ragged and torn n all edges with a black tattered scarf around his neck. Naruto couldn't see his face as it was shrouded with darkness, but what really caught his eyes were the steel chains that erupted from the earth and wrapped around his sensei.

They dangled from his arms and wrapped around his chest in an X formation while two more wrapped around his middle, acting as belts. There were two more chains, one coming out of each sleeve of his tattered gray robe.

In one hand, the figure carried the shovel Naruto was familiar with, only it seemed years older. In the other hand, he carried a black lantern that held an eerie grayish white glow.

"Now do you believe me?" asked the voice of Echo but it sounded far away and thrummed with a power that completely befuddled the blonde child. Naruto stared in awe for a moment before a feeling overcame him, one that still unnerved him and would continue to do so for years to come.

As Naruto stared at Echo, he felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness! There was no hope, no despair, nothing! Just silence, apathy and grief, that was all he could feel! If anyone haad asked him what went through his mind while in this overwhelming presence, Naruto would have said it was like being in a graveyard. Nothing but silence and a sense of despair while in the back of your mind, you knew you'd be joining them one day, buried in grave with only a slab with your name written on it to denote any kind of individuality, but it would be lost among so many others that no one would give it anything but a passing glance.

Just as quickly as the feeling came, it vanished in an instant. Blinking, Naruto saw that Echo had reverted back to his regular form.

"I know you're a little unnerved right now but-" Echgo was interrupted by Naruto's outburst of, "UNNERVED? TRY SCARED OUT OF MY GOD DAMN ORANGE PANTS! WHAT IN KAMI'S NAME WAS THAT? IT SCARED THE RAMEN OUT OF ME, DATTEBAYO!" screamed the blonde angrily, fear shining in his eyes.

Echo merely sighed and gave Naruto a serious look, "I apologize, but what you just saw was my reaper form, or Shinigami form if you prefer and as your sensei, I am ordering you to tell NO ONE what you just saw," he commanded.

Naruto blinked at that, "No one? Not even Kiki-chan?" NAruto asked confused.

"**ABSOLUTELY NO ONE!"** roared Echo in the most furious voice Naruto had ever heard. He noticed how a grey fire seemed to ignite behind his hazel eyes as he glared at Naruto. Taking a deep breath, his sensei calmed himself before looking back at him with the same serious look, "Just keep it to yourself and lets start, O.K?" suggested Echo. Naruto merely nodded.

**End Flashback**

Naruto shuddered slightly at the thought, that form still scared him, he'd even had nightmares about that thing burying him alive or even stalking him in some thick fog.

Sighinng, the blonde let his waner over to his best friend Kiki who was writing something down with one hand, while her other was fiddling with a butterfly knife under the desk. If it was anyone else besides Kiki, Naruto would have been freaking out, but he could only stare in amazement as the girl flipped and twirled the knife in her hand, snapping it open and closed with flourishes and flicks of her wrist. It was amazing to watch her play with those knives, but he shouldn't have been surprised seeing as she lived with Goza, the one who was teaching him about weapons. Course, Goza didn't realy teach Naruto that much, mostly because he was teaching Kiki, but every once in a while Goza would come around and give him a couple tips and tricks on how he could throw better and where to aim on a human target to get definite kills. He wasn't really a sensei, but the guy was nice enough and had even offered Naruto some odd jobs to do around the shop to earn some extra cash.

The blonde had immediately agreed and was both surprised and scared of the people he met at the shop, in other words, the other employees.

Before he could reminisce about it though, the bell rang, indicating the end of school. "Alright guys, be sure to have your homework finished and ready for tomorrow, and remember to study for the quiz Thursday!" Mizuki told the class before dismissing them.

Immediately the class exited the building, Mizuki following them. Naruto grumbled as Kikioko was still busy gathering up her things. "Come on Kiki-chan! I want to get to the shop already," Naruto whined.

Kiki merely huffed, "Oh you just want money from Goza so you can go pig out at Ichiraku's," Kiki stated as she shoved the last of her stuff into her bag. However, a square piece of paper escaped her bag and floated into one of the forward rows. _'Darn it!'_ she cursed, heading over to retrieve the object quickly, glancing at Naruto to see if he noticed. Thankfully he didn't.

"Course I do, ramen is great and Ichiraku's has the best and you know it, ttebayo!" exclaimed Naruto. He then blinked when he noticed his friend in the front row, grabbing something from the floor, "Oi, what are you grabbing?" he asked curiously.

Kiki stiffened and quickly shoved the piece of paper into her dress pocket. "Nothing! Just dropped a pencil is all," she chuckled nervously, a red blush forming on her face. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto stepped closer and looked intently at her face, pushing his head forward till they were mere inches apart. "Naruto? W-What are you doing?" Kiki asked, her blush intensifying as he just continued to stare at her.

Her heart was beating at a fast pace, her face was burning and her breath hitched slightly as Naruto got closer. She noticed him shift and bring his hand up, she could just see it out of her peripheral vision, while he main focus were the gorgeous blue eyes that stared into her very soul. _'Is he- Would he really-? Is he going to… to..'_ Kiki thought but it was interrupted when she felt something against her head. Blinking she noticed it was Naruto's hand against her forehead and the blonde had a concerned look on his face.

"Are you okay Kiki-chan? Your face is really red," Naruto stated as he checked her temperature.

The red head didn't know whether to sigh, attack or laugh at her friend's obliviousness, "I'm fine Whiskers-kun, lets just get out of here, ok?" she stated. Naruto grinned and walked with her to the entrance of the school. Outside, the two could see the rain was coming down pretty hard and students and adults alike were quickly going home to escape the rain. It wasn't truly storming yet, and no one wanted to be outside when it started to.

"Aw man! We're gonna get soaked if we go out there!" Naruto whined, "Ne, ne, Kiki-chan you wouldn't happen to have an umbrella in your bag would you?" asked Naruto.

Kiki shook her head, "Sorry Whiskers, but I didn't think it would rain any time soon, you know since this place is Hi no Kuni and all," she shrugged, "Who knew the supposed Land of Fire would have thunderstorms like this?"

"Hey you two, what are you guys still doing hanging around?" asked a voice. Surprised the two turned their heads to see the smiling face of their assistant teacher Mizuki.

"Oh hey Mizuki-sensei!" Kikioko greeted brightly, "We were actually just getting ready to leave," she said.

"Yeah and without an umbrella or raincoats," Naruto grumbled.

Mizuki laughed at that. "Well if you guys want I could walk you home," offered the teacher as he pulled out his umbrella, "I've got an umbrella and I'm pretty sure it can cover all three of us," he grinned. The two children immediately agreed and smiled at their sensei, neither noticed the malicious look that entered the man's yes as they walked out of the academy.

The trio had been walking for a bit, chatting with each other happily, but Naruto felt unease throughout the entire trip. He'd felt like this before, when he was alone and being chased, but the villagers were all inside, so why was he feeling like he was in danger? He didn't like this, more so because Kiki was near him.

The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt because of his condition.

The three continued to walk and were just passing an alley when a wicked grin came over Mizuki's face. The chuunin let forth three sharp whistles before grabbing Naruto by the scruff of his collar and throwing him into the alley.

"WHAA!" NAruto cried as he flew into the waiting hands of a hidden mob that threw him against the back of the alley, revealing it to be a dead end.

"We've got you now, demon!" jeered a mob member.

"No one's here to save you this time, monster!" shouted a woman.

"What the hell is this? Didn't you guys learn the last time you tried this, Fredrick will be here to reap you like he did last time!" Naruto shouted in annoyance.

"That would be unwise," said a voice. Surprised, Naruto watched as Mizuki made his way through the crowd, but what scared him was who he had with him.

In front of Mizuki, one hand holding the umbrella, and another holding a kunai to her throat, was Kikioko.

Naruto stared in horror at the sight in front of him. "Now, if you try and call that reaper, she dies," Mizuki stated with a smile on his face.

Kikioko was trembling in fear, her one visible eye wide and water, "N-Naruto, wh-whats going on?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Naruto only stood stock still, too shocked to move or reply. It was then that one of the mob members got impatient and struck the boy with a two by four upside the head. Thus the beating began, and it was one of the most horribles ones Naruto would ever experience.

Kiki watched in horror as these people attacked and beat Naruto, with bottles, knives, pipes, wooden planks and their own hands and feet. Kiki was crying as she watched it, but she was too terrified to cry out. She continued to watch as a man proceeded to stomp on Naruto's back. She stopped breathing when Naruto raised his head and stared at her, his face bloody and bruised.

Naruto stared into Kki's crying face and, to the shock and horror of Kiki, he smiled. He gave her his famous foxy grin and opened his mouth to speak, "Don't cry Kiki-chan," he croaked out, "I'll be fine, dattebayo,"

"Shut up you god damned demon!" screamed a mobster, striking Naruto hard across the face. Naruto merely turned defiant eyes on his assailant and continued to grin. "Why the hell are you smiling? Wipe that grin off your face!" cried a man as he picked up the child by his collar and proceeded to strike him repeatedly across the face with his fist.

"Naruto…" whispered Kiki, tears flowing down her face freely as she watched him continue to smile through what had to be tremendous pain. "Please… stop," she breathed quietly. They continued to hurt him, and e continued to grin. Mizuki just grinned through this entire thing, but it turned to a frown when he looked down to see Kiki's crying face.

"Why the hell are you crying for a monster like that thing?" Mizuki sneered, catching Kikioko's attention. She only glanced at him though before her eyes went back to the morbid spectacle in front of her. She winced as she saw a knife be jammed into Naruto's shoulder. "That thing doesn't deserve your tears, so stop crying and enjoy the show," he said with sadistic pleasure. Kiki stayed silent and continued watching. "Course, you don't know what it is, right? Course you don't, I forget you weren't born here," Mizuki mused. "I suppose as a teacher I should educate you," Mizuki said.

"You see, about eleven years ago, a demon attacked this village," Mizuki began, his head leaned forward and talking into her right ear. Naruto gave a grunt as another person smacked his face with an iron pipe. Coughing, the blonde spat out some blood but continued to smile.

"This demon was the most powerful of its kind, most powerful of the Bijuu, its nine tales capable of destroying mountains and causing tsunamis with a single wave with any one of it's tails,"

Kiki winced as they jabbed a kunai into Naruto's thigh, but still, the blonde knucklehead continued to smile, despite the blood leaking from his mouth. She didn't want to watch this, but she couldn't look away, nor could she plug her ears of everything she heard, which included Mizuki's voice and tale.

"It killed hundreds of shinobi, and even more civilians. It was so powerful that even the fourth could not kill the beast," Mizuki chuckled slightly as Naruto was thrown against the wall, but frowned upon seeing that the blonde was still smiling, "Even though you were told that it was killed, that nwas a lie to keep the future generation from finding out the truth, there was even a law established by the third that anyone who spoke of the truth would be killed, executed on the spot,"

"Truth is, the Kyuubi couldn't be killed, not by mortals like us anyway, so instead they sealed it," Naruto was still smiling, "However, no ordinary container could be used, no, it could only be sealed in a human, one newly born," Kiki continued to cry, "There was only one baby born that day though and that baby,"

Naruto was slumped against the wall now, the villagers trying to decide how to finish him as he looked up and smiled at Kiki.

"Was Naruto Uzumaki," Mizuki finished. Kiki stiffened at those words, "You get it now, that boy is no boy, but a demon in human's skin! He is the Kyuubi reborn and we need to kill him before he regains the power that was sealed away," Mizuki said, pulling the kunai away and walking up to Naruto. Kikioko just stood there too shocked to move. Even her tears had stopped, but it was hard to tell with the rain now pouring down her face. She just watched as Mizuki approached Naruto's slumped form, kunai in his hand.

"This is the night we kill the demon!" Mizuki stated as he raised the black knife high. The crowd erupted into cheers, while Naruto merely stared at Mizuki, his face now blank. Mizuki gave a crazed grin at Naruto and said, "Time to die, Kyuubi!" with that he brought the knife down.

And stabbed Kikioko Atezuiryo in the back, for at the last second, she had jumped in front of the knife her front facing Naruto and her arms spread out. Mizuki was shocked as was Naruto. Confused, the blonde stared up at Kiki and asked "Kiki-chan… Why?"

The red head gave him a gentle smile and looked at him with fresh tears streaming down her face, "Because… Like I said on my first day at the academy," she said gently, slowly falling to her knees till she was in front of him, "You're my friend no matter what anyone says, and besides," here she held out her hand and extended her pinky finger towards him. "We're friends till the end," she said smiling.

Naruto could only stare in shock at her before he slowly smiled, but the moment was not to last as Mizuki snarled, "You demon loving whore!" he snarled before he yanked the kunai out of her back and smacked her in the back of the head with the iron ring.

"Kiki-chan!" Naruto cried as he caught the girl in his arms, wincing as he moved to cradle her unconscious body in his arms. The boy glared at Mizuki and said, "What the hell is wrong with you? She did nothing wrong!" Naruto shouted, tears now in his eyes as he held her body close.

"She tried defending a demon!" shouted a villager.

"This village doesn't need demons or demon lovers like your little whore!" screeched a woman's voice.

"So now, you're both going to be killed!" Mizuki said, raising the kunai high as lightning flashed across the sky. "Say goodbye, monsters!" he roared. However he froze when a killing intent like no other flooded the area. Before Mizuki could even utter a word, a loud bang filled the air which was almost instantly followed by Mizuki's head blowing apart. For a moment it stood there, spewing blood before falling to the ground. The mob stared in fear as a figure dropped onto the body of Mizuki. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the familiar red sweatshirt and shovel.

"I don't like to fight," muttered the man, "And I abhor killing people, but," here he leveled a glare at the mobsters and they gasped as they saw his eyes glowing an eerie gray. "I'm going to kill all of you," he said in a dead voice.

It wasn't a threat… it was a statement.

Slowly, the grey cloak started to materialize on Echo, the rags coming up to create a hood and shroud his face in darkness while the black scarf wrapped around his neck. The cloak spread, and covered his body when suddenly, chains shot from the earth and wrapped themselves around Echo in the same fashion that Naruto had seen them do so long ago. Only this time he noticed the chains didn't seem to break through the earth, they acted as if they emerged from water a rippling effect over the ground wherever they touched, like water. Finally, the lantern appeared in his hand, the flame inside of it thrashing wildly within it's confines.

Slowly, he raised his lantern and said, "**Ushinawa reta tamashi no kiri (Fog of lost souls)" **Immediately, the lantern filled with smoke and opened, covering the alley in a dense grey fog.

'_I can't see anything'_ Naruto said as he looked into the dense bank of cloud. Oddly enough, the fog did not move with the wind, nor did it seemed disturbed by the rain as it fell onto it. For a while, the blonde heard nothing but the study thrum of rain. Slowly his eyes started to close and Naruto realized how hurt and tired he was. It was strange that he hadn't passed out earlier, but now his wounds were finally starting to take affect.

As he slowly succumbed to darkness, the last thing Naruto saw was a light emerging from the fog, held aloft by the hand of his sensei whose shovel was slung across his shoulder and dripping blood._ 'I think… I think… I'm done'_ was the last conscious thought he had.

**A/N: And done! Ok all be sure to read and review! I'm leaving ya with a little cliffy because I'm mean like that :3 **

**Ja ne!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: O.K! Let's get to work shall we? And please folks… GIVE ME SOME REVIEWS! I crave them! Also, there is a time skip this chapter, so don't be surprised!**

Echo sighed as he guarded the still form of Naruto. The boy was currently sitting in a hospital bed, hooked to an I.V drip and blood pack with bandages all over his body. The boy had lost a lot of blood in that beating, and had a lot of blunt trauma dealt to his body and internal organs. Not to mention the broken bones. Even with his heritage and Kyuubi, Naruto would not be alive if Echo hadn't rushed him to the hospital.

Shifting his gaze from Naruto's face, he allowed a brief smile to flit across his visage before it vanished and was replaced with a frown. Kiki had been the least wounded, the worst being the stab wound on her back, which had been deep, but thankfully benign. Currently, the girl had fallen asleep in a chair, which had been seated as close as possible to Naruto's bed. Her left hand was covering Naruto's left hand while the other was resting on his left shoulder. As it were, the girl was using Naruto's chest as a pillow.

When the girl had come to, the doctors had already treated her, but the first thing she asked was what had happened to Naruto. When told he'd just got out of surgery and what room he was in, the red head had flown out of her room and gone straight to Naruto's. She hadn't even noticed Echo sitting in the corner when she had burst into the room.

No sooner had she seen Naruto's body in bandages did she rush over and grab his hand. She had cried then, desperately begging him to wake up, praying that he'd be fine, telling him that he couldn't leave her and all manner of things. When the doctors came to push her out, she had nearly ripped their throats out. It was only when Echo promised to keep an eye on both of them did the doctors let her stay.

Sighing once more, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out his gun. For a while, he just stared at it, rubbing his thumb along the barrel. Clicking the release button, he deftly caught the magazine clip before slamming it gently back into place. For a while, that's all he did, releasing the magazine then replacing it.

As he kept repeating the action, Echo missed the sound of someone entering the room.

"How are they doing?" Echo looked up and saw Goza staring silently at the sleeping children.

The weary man merely sighed and replied in a monotone, "Naruto's ribs are either cracked or broken, left lung pierced by one. Lacerations and puncture wounds on his legs, arms, back and stomach, teeth were cracked and some fell out, along with trauma to the liver, kidneys and intestines. Spine is nearly fractured and there are bruises all over his body. Trauma to some of the muscles and of course there were broken bones. That, and substantial blood loss," he paused, "Kyuubi already grew him some new teeth with, don't really know how though, but he'll be back in shape soon enough,"

"To think, he'd be dead if not for his burden," Goza muttered, "What about Kiki-chan?" asked the goblin while taking out a cigar and placing it in his mouth, unlit.

"Puncture wound in the back, between the shoulder blades. Missed the vertebrae by three centimeters to the left. There'll be a scar there, but other than that, she's fine,"

Goza mulled it over before asking, "What about psychologically? What's their mental state?"

Echo rolled a shoulder and put his gun away before replying, "I don't know, but we'll have just have to deal with whatever emerges. Be glad that _it_ didn't manifest,"

Goza frowned slightly, "So you know?"

"It's hard not to when you have my abilities, though I had thought they were all slaughtered in the Kiri bloodline purge," Echo commented.

"They were, she's the last one," Goza sighed as he walked over to the bed.

"How did you find her then?" asked Echo, though his face said he had a good idea how already.

Goza chuckled mirthlessly as he rubbed Kiki's head, "I couldn't let those items be destroyed or forgotten, so I went to collect them, her kind has always been frequent customers so I decided to preserve their memory by adding what I could find to my personal collection," he paused, "I found her huddled in a corner and decided to take her in,"

"You sure that's wise?" asked Echo.

Goza scowled lightly at the dirty blonde, "And why would you say that?"

Echo didn't reply immediately, instead he reached under his shirt and pulled out a necklace.

It was a simple black chord; nothing special, but the charm on it was something Goza easily recognized. It was a silver disk with two overlapping triangles, one pointing down, and the other pointing up. However overlapping those were two united circles.

To many, it would not mean much, but to one such as Goza, he recognized it as a wedding necklace. "You were married to one?" asked the goblin in surprise.

"Yes, and she betrayed me for the sake of power. When the old world started to crumble, she and her kind saw the moment to take power and recreate the world, but that world had no room for someone like me, at least that's what she told me before she tried killing me," Echo replied evenly, "I know that there were changes, but I'm wary to be around her kind, I fear what will happen when she 'awakens'"

Goza smiled slightly, "Don't worry, she won't 'awaken' any time soon,"

"How would you know?" asked Echo, eyeing Kiki with caution.

"You forget I have an oracle in my employ, a mystic who can help Kiki," Goza responded as he walked towards the door, "Tetsol has told me that when she awakens, it will be on a land surrounded by water, half connected to the burning lands by a construct of hope. Surrounded by mirrors who only reflect one, she will believe that what she holds most dear to be gone and only then, will she awaken and unlock her true potential,"

Echo silently contemplated the words, frowning as he did. "So she will awaken on an island, surrounded by mirrors, and it will happen when what she holds most dear, is believed to be gone," concluded the man. "Any ideas on what she holds most dear?" he asked as he got up and followed the goblin to the exit of the room.

Goza sighed and opened the door, "Not sure," he said as they filed out, "Kiki doesn't really put a lot of value into objects, not unless given by someone very close to her,"

"Like you?" Echo guessed.

Goza nodded, "Like me," he paused, "The only thing I can think of is someone close to her, but I can't think of anyone she would hold most dear to her heart,"

Echo stopped a moment, his face blank. _'I think I know'_ thought the blonde as he caught up with him, "Let's just hope it doesn't happen for some time,"

Goza nodded as they both left the hospital, each wondering what would happen now.

**Three years Later**

"Congratulations to everyone who passed their ninja exams! From today on, you are now shinobi of the hidden leaf, a title you should carry with pride," Iruka announced as he smiled at the graduating students. _'Shame only some of them will actually be shinobi'_ thought the chuunin sadly. "You will now be divided into three man teams, however, due to your odd number there will be one team of four genin instead of the regular three," Iruka spoke proudly.

As Iruka began listing off the teams, a certain blonde was only half listening to him. Naruto sighed as his teacher continued talking. The boy hadn't gone through much of a wardrobe change, he still wore the same jacket and, shirt- the shirts colors were inverted though, now a black background and a white skull- and prayer beads, but he had traded his goggles in for a different pair given to him by his world-weary sensei.

Echo had told him they were 'steampunk styled', whatever that meant. Point was they were made of copper and had orange tints while the strap was made of brown leather. They also had different functions, such as night vision, zoom, camera, and thermal vision.

For pants, the boy had switched to black cargo pants while on his feet he put on a strange pair of foot wear that Goza had given to him. They seemed like regular black and grey sneakers except Goza had given them some upgrades. For one, they were extremely durable and adjusted to perfectly fit on who ever wore them. Next, they were fireproof, you could walk on the hottest of flames and these things would only get soot on them. While also being waterproof, it was insulated so that Naruto didn't have to worry about being electrocuted through his feet. Naruto loved em but the thing strapped to his back he loved more.

Just this year, the boy had finally earned his scythe! The blade was a black and stretched out for three feet before curving into a wicked point. The pole was made of a dull gray metal that stretched to be a solid six feet tall, which was about four inches taller than the blonde himself. However, what made this scythe special was that it had some surprises hidden in it. Only the people Naruto trusted knew about these attachments. That included Kikioko Atezuiryo.

Naruto grew sad as he thought of his friend and crush. Glancing, he smiled a bit as he saw her sitting next to him like always. Naruto wasn't the only one to go through a wardrobe change.

Kiki wore a black dress that stopped just above her shins and revealed her shoulders to the world, with only two black straps keeping it in place. It also had long red and black striped sleeves that easily hid her hands and any knives that might have been hidden there. She wore long striped stockings that were colored green and black and stopped mid thigh along with long, lace up black boots that stopped just below the knee. Around her neck was a black collar with a small disk on it that had a pentagram etched into it. She wore crescent moon earrings and had two large red dots on each corner of her mouth, though only the one on the left side of her mouth was usually seen since she still had her hair swept to the right so it covered her other eye and the other corner of her mouth. On her head was, oddly enough, a green and red jester's cap, with three prongs, one going left, one going right, and the last going back. The seam on each prong separated the colors so that red was on top and green was on bottom. Each prong ended in a point with a small black ball hanging on it. Finishing her look was a brown leather belt that was filled with throwing knives, while a black kunai pouch was strapped to each of her thighs.

Now because Naruto was a teenager, he also took note of Kiki's rather… generous chest. While not large like the legendary Tsunade's, they were still something that had men drooling. Not to mention her curves and fit pale body. If one word could be used to describe Kiki, it would be sexy.

As it were, the girl was about an inch shorter than Naruto and she was currently humming to herself as she waited for her name to be called. Naruto sighed through his nose before letting his mind wander; unfortunately, they didn't wander to happy topics.

"**Oh come now Naruto-kun, it's for the best,"** purred a feminine voice. Naruto merely nodded in reply. That night, Naruto had me the Kyuubi, and that night, Naruto had made a vow.

**Flashback**

Shuddering, Naruto slowly sat up knowing that after that beating, he'd be sore for a couple days. That, and the drugs the hospital gave him usually made him nauseous. Imagine his surprise when he didn't feel sore, or sick.

Now imagine that pleasant experience being robbed because he found himself in a strange black and twisted forest. The sky was a bloody red with a shining full yellow moon.

Gulping, the child got up and began walking. What compelled him to do so, Naruto didn't know. As he passed the trees, the boy heard the sound of rushing water. Curious, the blonde followed it and was once more surprised to find a wide stream of glowing blue water. Blinking, he decided to follow the stream to the source.

As Naruto walked along the black banks, he began wondering where he was. _'The last thing I remember is Echo-sensei walking out of the fog… Could it be that I'm dead?'_ wondered Naruto. He frowned when he thought that. Quickly the blonde went over all he knew about afterlife realms taught to him by Fredrick. _'This obviously isn't heaven, nor is it Limbo… Maybe this is Hell? No, there would be others and if this was the Forest of Suicide then there would be people hanging from the trees!'_ dismissed the blonde. _If this isn't an afterlife realm, maybe it's a Divine realm? Or, maybe it's a demon's personal realm?'_

Before the blonde could think any further, he found the source of the water, and his jaw dropped in surprise.

It was a lake, no, a veritable ocean of that strange water! It was so large, that Naruto could barely make out the other side of the lake. He noted that seemingly all the streams branched off from this one source, and he knew there were more because he could see others near the one he had followed. He also noted that the moon was directly above this single location, and it seemed close enough that Naruto felt he could pluck it from the sky.

However, his attention soon swapped to the bubbling red mass that began rising from seemingly the bottom of the lake. Naruto watched and nearly fell back in shock as a giant beast emerged from the lake. One Naruto recognized from history books and legends.

It was the nine tailed demon fox, the Kyuubi no Youko!

The beast stood, half it's body in the lake, nine tails waving behind it, churning the water and sending red and blue waves crashing across the surface. Lowering its head, the Giant fox stared at Naruto, who did nothing due to shock. For a time there was silence.

Gulping Naruto gave a shaky smile, raising a hand the boy greeted the giant fox, "Yo, whats up Kyuubi-san?"

The giant red fox stared before rearing back then letting loose a mighty roar in front of Naruto. Naruto just kept up his shaky smile he was assaulted by the roar. However the roar becme a hack, then a gurgle, then…

"**Konichiwa, Naruto-kun,"** greeted a beautiful female as she stepped out of the fox's mouth and stood upon the lake surface. Behind her, the fox stood, frozen in mid roar but it's eyes were now empty and blank. However, Naruto was a little too preoccupied by the beautiful woman in front of him.

She was a curvaceous woman, the seeming epitome of female perfection. Lightly tanned skin, long slender legs, lean flat stomach, delicate and slender hands, a beautiful face with the most amazing ruby red eyes with a slit pupil that only made her seem exotic. Luscious red lips and long flowing red hair that ended in black tips. Add the cute fox ears on the top of her head and the tail sprouting from her back and her perfect…assets… yeah you had one hell of a woman.

She was also naked, and Naruto was desperately trying not to pass out from a nosebleed.

Shaking his head Naruto shouted, "Would you please put some clothes on?"

Kyuubi frowned slightly, **"Do you not like this form Naru-kun? My understanding was that-"**

"That's not the problem!" Naruto replied, "Just put on some clothes!"

After Kyuubi had finally put some clothes on, a simple black kimono, Naruto sighed. "Ok, so if you're here then that means I'm somewhere in my body right?" asked Naruto.

"**Correct, you're in your mindscape,"** Kyuubi said with pride.

"Any reason why it looks like something out of some gothic painting?" asked Naruto.

"**Originally this place was a sewer,"** Kyuubi answered, her voice taking a slightly disgusted tone. **"So I used what powers I could to change this place to my likings,"** she smiled as she observed the forest, **"Isn't it just breathtaking?"**

'_In the 'it scares the living hell out of people way' then yes'_ Naruto thought wryly. "I suppose… So why am I here?" asked Naruto, now sitting on the banks of the lake. Kyuubi merely smiled before sitting next to the blonde, rather closely actually.

"**Well I think it's time I talked with you Naru-kun,"** Kyuubi said softly, **"You see, the reason I wanted to repent was because I have caused not just you, but so many people so much strife. I thought it best that I take this sealing as a form of repentance,"** she sighed, **"I expected you to receive the same treatment as my last container did, but you have been treated so much crueler,"**

She turned her eyes to look into Naruto's curious blue ones. Slowly she let her right hand grasp Naruto's left and began speaking again **"I didn't think you would be treated so horribly so imagine my grief when I realized my container was being hurt because of me! I did all I could to keep you alive, but I knew that if you were to use my power, you'd only become more hated,"** she paused and looked away in apparent shame, then,** "So I began to think how I could help you, and the answer came in the form of a Bijuu law,"**

"You mean Fredrick-jiji, right?" asked Naruto slowly and softly. Kyuubi nodded her head.

"**I was happy that you were finally being protected, finally being loved and accepted,"** she smiled as she turned to face him again,** "Finally I had done something right, you were becoming strong, but then, my hopes are dashed by that girl,"** Kyuubi said with a scowl.

Naruto frowned at that, _"_What girl? You mean Kiki-chan?" he asked.

Kyuubi nodded,** "I honestly have nothing against her but it's because of her that you were nearly killed!"** Kyuubi said in frustration, **"If she hadn't been there, or if she had done something then the both of you could have escaped!"**

Naruto scowled at that, "Oi! Kiki-chan couldn't do anything about it! Mizuki was holding her hostage!" he said a little heatedly.

Kyuubi shook her head** "She has more power than you know, but she did nothing, and because she was there, you refused to fight,"** she said. Before he could speak, Kyuubi silenced him by placing a hand on his cheek and looking at him with those emotional red eyes.** "I know you did it so she wouldn't get hurt, but despite it she still did, and you were nearly killed! I know she said that she'd never leave you and that's what makes this so hard,"** she whispered.

"What do you mean?" he replied softly.

Kyuubi looked down then back at Naruto. **"Naruto, do you truly care for Kiki, for all your friends? I mean, do you treasure them more than anything else in the world?"**

Naruto didn't even need to think, "Yes,"

Kyuubi sighed, **"I had hoped I wouldn't have to say this but," **here her eyes grew hard and her voice serious,** "You need to push your loved ones away, you can't let them become close,"**

Naruto blinked, not quite understanding at first. Then, "What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto shouted as he got to his feet, "Why would I push them away! That doesn't make sense, ttebayo!" he shouted, angry and confused.

Before he could go on a rant the fox demon stopped him.

"**Do you want them to die?"** she asked quietly. That stopped him cold. He turned to face her, his face asking the question. **"People hate jinchuuriki and anyone who associates with them, Kiki is a prime example,"** she spoke, slowly approaching the stunned blonde, **"Jinchuuriki also go into a berserker rage when they use too much of their tenant's youki, it causes them to attack both friend and enemy,"**

"I'd never attack Kiki," Naruto denied.

"**You wouldn't, but you're not the one in control when the rage comes into play,"** Kyuubi explained, now in front of Naruto. Gently she grabbed his hand and held it between both of hers, **"When she sees you in that form, she'll try to stop you, and you will hurt her, so the only way to stop that from happening is to push her away,"** Kyuubi told him gently.

"But… I…" Naruto didn't know what to say, how to respond. His mind was in turmoil, on one hand he knew Kiki was strong, that she could easily defend herself, hell, she was top kunoichi in his class! Yet on the other hand, she had already been hurt because of him.

For the first two years it was only Kiki and Naruto. The other girls just teased and isolated her, started rumors about her and her family being a group of freaks and circus rejects. Some of the more vicious girls tried attacking her, but Kiki's knives kept them at bay. Still didn't stop them from trying to pound her into the dirt during spars.

She said it didn't bother her, but Naruto still felt guilty and more so because of the villagers.

They refused to shop at Goza's store when Naruto was there. They glared at both him and Kiki when he walked down the streets with her. Some shops and restaurants would even deny her service if Naruto was with her.

Despite her reassurances, Naruto felt like a burden to her at times, more so because of the events that had occurred not even hours ago.

That attack now gnawed at his mind. What was to stop that from happening again? What if the villagers started attacking her now, started defacing and blacklisting her family's shop?

Then there was Kyuubi's words. Could he stop himself from hurting her while using Kyuubi's chakra? _'I just won't use it then'_ thought Naruto, but that was impossible. Both Fredrick and Echo had told him that he would have to learn how to control her chakra, because one day, he would have to use it. Intentionally or not, he would have to use it.

Kyuubi watched with concern on her face as Naruto struggled to come to terms with these thoughts and revelations. He dropped his head, looking at the ground as he spoke, his voice heavy and soft. "I'll do it, to protect them, I'll do it,"

Kyuubi pulled him into a hug and stroked his hair as his shoulders shook with restrained sobs.** "Shh, it's ok Naru-kun, I'll be here, I'll take care of you,"** whispered the vixen, **"I'll never leave you,"** she promised while holding the boy tightly to her.

**End Flashback**

Coming out of his flashback, the boy noticed that Iruka was almost through with announcing the teams. "Team 7 will consist of Sasuke Uchiha," the last Uchiha looked up at that, interested on who would be on his team.

"Sakura Haruno," "YES! Eat that Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted. **"Cha! Sasuke-kun is ours now!"** cheered her inner persona. Sakura may have passed, but she was still a fan girl.

Iruka sighed before speaking again, "Kikioko Atezuiryo," Kiki groaned under her breath. She did not want to be on a team with Sakura, the pink haired girl hated her. Sasuke was just too broody for her liking, sure his clan was slaughtered but that was two years ago, and he was cold before they died.

"And Naruto Uzumaki," finished Iruka. Naruto smiled at this. While he didn't like the idea of being on a team with Sasuke or Sakura, he was delighted to know that he was with his best friend, despite the fact he kept her at a distance.

Try as he might, he just could and would not completely push his best friend away. Instead, he just hung out with her less, and kept conversations simple and superficial. He even declined a majority of her requests to hang out, spar and the like.

"Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake," Iruka finished. The man then went on to list the other teams, which was Hinata, Shino, and Kiba under the tutelage of Kurenai, while Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru would be under the guidance of Asuma Sarutobi. Now all everyone had to do was wait for their respective sensei.

Soon, three jounin came into the room, all of which Naruto and Kiki recognized. However they did not see their sensei.

"Must be running a little late," Kiki stated as the last student left the room. The four sat down and waited, wondering what their sensei would be like. As time passed, the new team became a little disgruntle that after thirty minutes, their sensei was still late.

"Ok… this is getting annoying," muttered Naruto, shifting in his seat.

"Relax Naruto-baka, he'll be here soon enough," Sakura stated as she stared at Sasuke. Sasuke made no movement, but Naruto could feel the irritation in his soul's wavelengths.

The group waited some more and both Kiki and Naruto were becoming antsy, neither pleased at being kept waiting for TWO HOURS! The two had taken to messing with their weapons. Kiki was flipping her knives through her fingers, a murderous look in her eye. Naruto on the other hand was swinging his scythe in front of him a crazed grin and demented light in his eyes. Sasuke and Sakura were a little freaked, especially with what the two were muttering.

"Gonna stab him, stab him and cut him up real slow," whispered Kikioko, spinning the blade in her hand. "Make him bleed, torture him then heal him then cut him up again!"

"Chop, chop, chop," whispered Naruto, "Chop, chop, chop! Choppity, choppity, chop, chop!" he finished with a demented cackle.

"Hold me Sasuke-kun," Sakura mumbled as she huddled closer to the brooding teen. Sasuke said and did nothing; he was too busy making sure he kept quiet so his crazed teammates didn't attack him.

Soon the door opened and everyone froze as a silver haired man with gravity defying silver hair stepped into the room. He wore standard jounin garb and fingerless black glove with metal on the backs. However his right eye was covered by his headband and he wore a facemask that covered his mouth and nose.

He looked at the students then asked, "Team 7?" no sooner ad he finished then he had to dodge a scythe and several knives.

"DIE YOU BASTARD!"

"CHOOOOP! CHOP! CHOP!"

Jumping out of the way, he watched as the knives embedded in the wall while Naruto sliced the door in half vertically. Jumping again, he dodged the red head trying to stab him in the back. While in mid air, he twisted to avoid Naruto's scythe and landed on the ceiling in a crouch, out of reach of Naruto's scythe.

"My first impression is, I hate you guys," Kakashi stated lazily.

Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped at him_ 'We're not the ones who tried to kill you'_

"Meet me on the roof," Kakashi stated, disappearing in a poof of smoke just as several knives and Naruto's thrown scythe embedded themselves in the ceiling.

"dammit, he got away," muttered Kiki.

"Chooop," Naruto said dejectedly. Soon, the two gathered up their equipment and walked up with their teammates to the roof.

Once on the roof, they spotted their sensei leaning against the railing, his nose buried in an orange book. "Right then, why don't you guys have a seat so we can introduce ourselves?" he asked, snapping his book shut and tucking it away.

"How about you go first sensei? So we know what to say," Sakura suggested.

Kakashi sighed, "Fine, my name is Kakashi Hatake, I have no desire to tell you about my likes or dislikes, I have hobbies, and I have dreams for the future," he finished with an eye smile.

'_All we learned was his name'_ Sakura thought annoyed. Kikioko and Naruto barely restrained themselves from another attempt at killing him.

"You're up pinky," Kakashi said to Sakura who was not fond of the new nickname.

Smiling she began speaking, "My name is Sakura Haruno, I like…" here she paused and looked at Sasuke with a blush, "I like a certain someone, and trivia games, my hobbies include…" here she glanced at Sasuke and giggled, "As for dreams for the future…" she looked at Sasuke and squealed.

"Any dislikes?" Kakashi asked, resisting the urge to face palm._ 'Damn it, I hate fan girls'_

"KIKIOKO AND NARUTO-BAKA!" Sakura declared loudly. Kiki sighed while Naruto winced at the volume.

"Riiight," Kakashi drawled while internally slamming his head against a wall, "How about you go next Miss Red," Kakashi asked while pointing at Kiki.

She smiled at the man, "My name is Kikioko Atezuiryo, I like my family, friends, Whiskers-kun," here she poked Naruto seated next to her who just chuckled in response, "I also like knife throwing, acrobatics and reading," she paused for a moment, "I don't have a lot of dislikes, except for ignorant people and those who don't think for themselves," here she sent a glance at Sakura, who was glaring at her, she wasn't oblivious to Kiki's jabs. "For hobbies? I suppose practicing with my knives," she shrugged, "as for my dream…" here she glanced at Naruto, a light pink dusting her cheeks, "Have a family with my true love and learn about my own heritage," she finished with a grin.

'_Huh, a little odd but not a fangirl, but I bet she has a crush on Naruto'_ Kakashi mused._'Speaking of the orange devil'_ "So how about you go next Whiskers?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile.

Naruto rolled his eyes but smiled, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen, my friends, sensei and," he stopped himself. He was about to say Kiki-chan, but he remembered his deal with Kyuubi. "and training," he said with a smile. He missed the disappointed and hurt look that flashed across Kiki's face, but Kakashi didn't.

"I dislike how long it takes to cook ramen and ignorant people. My dream for the future is to be recognized as me," he said with conviction, "As for hobbies… pranks I guess, but I don't really do them anymore," he finished with a sad sigh.

Kakashi frowned,_ 'Something is eating at him, this could interfere with the team' _he nodded before pointing to Sasuke. "Now you," he chirped.

Sasuke grunted at that, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I like very few things and dislike too many things to list, my only hobby is training and I don't have a dream but an ambition, to revive my clan," here his eyes narrowed, "and to kill a certain man,"

His words were met with various reactions from his new team. Naruto gave him a wary glance, mostly because he could feel the brooder's wavelength practically bursting with hatred and turmoil. It disturbed him. Kiki merely glanced at him before shifting closer to Naruto. While she would never admit it, Sasuke unsettled her ever since the massacre. Sakura looked at him with adoration of course while Kakashi had an unreadable expression.

"Right well, then I want all of you to meet me at training ground 7 at 6 a.m tomorrow, we're going to have our first mission as a team," stated the one eyed man.

"Really? What mission?" asked Naruto in excitement.

"Survival training!" Kakashi announced happily, this caused all four members to faceplant.

"Survival training? But sensei, we did that back in the academy!" Sakura protested.

"Ah, but this time I'll be your opponent, and this mission will determine if you stay genin," Kakashi replied, delighting in the shocked looks that came over their faces.

"What do you mean by that? Didn't we already pass the exam?" asked Kiki, head tilted to the side and finger on her chin.

Kakashi merely eye smiled, "What you passed was a test to see who had the potential to become genin, this one decides whether you stay genin or not and it's fail rate is pretty high," he replied lazily.

"How high?" asked Naruto, curious as to what their chances were.

Kakashi's eye smile seemed to grow even bigger as he replied, "you have a thirty three percent chance of passing, the rest is being sent back to the academy for more training," Kakashi nearly cackled. The children all had gob smacked expressions on their faces, too stunned to reply.

Kakashi laughed to himself, "Anyway, meet tomorrow at 6 a.m and you might not want to eat breakfast,"

"Eh? Why wouldn't we eat breakfast?" Naruto demanded.

"Because you might puke," Kakashi replied before disappearing in a poof of smoke. The genin sat there in silence, not exactly sure what to do or say as a stray wind blew a leaf through the air.

Grunting, Sasuke got up and began walking away, soon followed by Sakura who pestered him for dates. Naruto and Kiki watched them go, both wondering when Sasuke would give her the slip.

"Twenty ryo says he does it as soon as he leaves the building," Kiki stated, breaking the silence.

"I bet he ditches her before they even leave the building," Naruto replied with a grin. The two had taken to making bets on when Sasuke would finally ditch his fangirls. Most of the time Naruto won, the blonde had some damn good luck when it came to gambling.

Laughing the girl looked at Naruto, "So, you want to go grab some Ichiraku's? I hear they have a new flavor." Kiki suggested, adding the new flavor to tempt the boy into coming.

Naruto chuckled nervously at that, "Well I'd love to but I got to get home and prepare you know? This test promises to be har and I figure if I eat a big enough dinner, I won't be hungry in the morning! Later Kiki!" Without another word the blonde took off over the rooftops. As he left, Kikioko let the hurt feeling show on her face as sadness slowly clenched her heart.

Sighing, the young woman reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a photo, slightly worn from age. It showed her and Naruto, both at the age of eight. The both of them had fallen asleep against one of the petrified trees of the Boneyard after a hard lesson from Echo. Naruto was slumped against the tree, head forward and his arms wrapped around the waist of a sleeping Kiki, who was using his body as a makeshift pillow, her hands tightly gripping the fabric of Naruto's shirt as she was curled up in the blonde's lap. There was a heart shape going around the two, drawn by Kiki herself.

Tears slowly fell rom her eyes as she looked at the photo._ 'What happened between us?'_ she wondered. _'Did I do something wrong? Why haveyou pulled away from me?'_ she asked. The girl merely sighed and slowly walked towards her home, wondering why her best friend, and crush, refused to interact with her like they used to.

**Next morning, Training ground 7**

Sakura slowly stumbled into the clearing that was training ground seven. She barely registered the three posts near a black stone as she walked, with zombie like movement to where Sasuke was seated in the shade of a tree. Eventually, the pink haired girl made it and slammed into the ground, too exhausted and hungry to move. Sasuke was little better off.

'_Why did he have us come at this hour? This training will kill us! I can only wonder how Kiki and Naruto are taking it'_ thought the Haruno. That was when she heard a strange sound and she could ofsworn she was going crazy, but Sasuke's question confirmed it.

"Is that singing?" he asked in disbelief.

Sure enpugh, walking into the clearing singing happily was Kikioko Atezuiryo, though the song she sang was nothing that Sasuke or Sakura had heard before.

"_Walk with me into the nether_

_Twist and turn with me forever_

_All you know is no more_

_All is gone, but do not fear_

_For I shall always be here_

_To twist and turn through the nether_

_Twist with me, forever and ever"_

Sakura and Sasuke were a little creeped out by it, but they were entranced with it nonetheless. Especially since Kiki had quite a beautiful voice. Imagine their surprise when she walked into the clearing, singing and looking bright and cheery as ever.

"Ohayo!" she sang as she approached the two tired teens. "Whats up you guys?" she asked, stopping in front of them.

They stared at her before Sakura yelled, "HOW ARE YO SO BRIGHT AND CHEERY? IT'S 6 A.M!"

Kiki just shrugged. "Peggy cooked a big feast last night and I went to bed early," she replied happily. The two teens sat there, before hanging their heads in shame. The two smartest kids in their grade didn't think of that, but Kiki did? At least she was pretty smart, it's not like Naruto thought of it.

Speaking of Naruto, "Oi, where's the dobe?" Sasuke asked. Before Kiki could reply, Naruto appeared hanging upside down from the tree the three were at. He was gripping his scythe pole while the blade was wedged into the branch.

"BOO!" he shouted, causing Sakura to scream while Sasuke nearly jumped into the tree himself if he hadn't recognized the blonde. Kiki merely smiled and laughed with the blonde at their teammate's reactions.

When Sakura got a hold of herself, she got angry, "You BAKA!" she screamed, slamming a fist into his face. The blonde was launched from his post, scythe and branch going with him and landing in a heap.

"Ow…" moaned the blonde before jumping up and laughing, "Glad to see you guys are awake," he grinned, just as bright and happy as Kikioko. Seeing their haggard looks and hearing the faint gurgle of a hungry stomach the blonde frowned, "How come you guys are so hungry and tired?"

"Because it's early and we didn't eat anything for breakfast! Why aren't you?" Sakura demanded. The blonde blinked then grinned.

"I pigged out on a ton of food last night! Then Fredrick-jiji got mad at me for making a mess and knocked me out with a frying pan, it hurt but now I'm prepared and alert enough to ace this test, ttebayo!"

Sasuke and Sakura stared at the two before sighing and dropping to the ground in defeat. Even the supposed dead last of their class had thought of this?

Naruto looked at Kiki questioningly, but she just shrugged and the two trudged over to the training posts to wait for their sensei, conversing about this and that as they went.

Sakura watched with a little envy at how easily the two got along, but she also noticed how they didn't act as close as they used to. If this had been the Naruto and Kiki from three years ago, before that stormy day, where their sensei Mizuki had gone missing and Naruto and Kiki admitted to the hospital. Kiki came back two days later, Naruto three days later. She didn't know what changed but Sakura knew that if this was the old Naruto and Kiki, they'd be laughing much louder and Naruto would have slung an arm around her shoulder or Kiki would have hugged the boy as soon as she saw him.

She'd have to talk to Ino about this. If anyone would know anything, it would be her, the Mistress of Gossip.

**9:00 A.M**

It had been three hours since Kakashi was supposed to arrive and the entire team was thoroughly annoyed, none more so than Kiki and Naruto. At the moment, Naruto had taken to sharpening his scythe, chanting under his breath.

"Sharpen, sharpen, sharpen my blade," he muttered, "Deeper, deeper, deeper it will cut!" He cackled, repeating the mantra as he sharpened it.

Kikioko had taken to tying a Kakashi dummy to the middle post and was throwing knives at it, all while muttering on how she was going to punish her sensei, "Cut his tendons then drag him across broken glass? No, make him Seamore's new chewtoy? No, maybe take a curling iron and…" Sasuke and Sakura were trying not to listen to them.

A poof of smoke appeared in the middle of the clearing, and when it cleared there stood a happily smiling Kakashi, "Yo!" he greeted

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screamed in fury. Kiki and Naruto were just staring at him intently, barely restraining from attacking him.

"Sorry, but I got lost on the road of life and a little old lady needed help crossing the street," he replied.

"LIES!" Sakura screeched. Before she could chew him out, Kakashi had set a timer on the middle stump, not seeming to notice the pincushion plushie of himself tied to it. Placing the timer down, he also put two bento boxes on the stump. As his students watched, the man pulled two bells from his pocket and jingled tem in front of his students.

"Right then, your mission is to get these two bells from me," Kakashi stated, "Whoever doesn't get a bell will be tied to one of these stumps and forced to watch as I eat my lunch in front of you," he said happily.

'_So that's why he told us not to eat'_ thought the four students, two of them more negatively than the others. Sakura then narrowed her eyes and said, "But sensei, there are only two bells!" she exclaimed.

Kakashi nodded, "Very observant Sakura, this means that at least two of you will fail and be forced to watch me eat lunch and," here his tone became serious, "At least two of you will be sent back to the academy," this caused the students to tense up. None of them wanted to turn back, each for their own reasons, be it in pursuit of a dream, love, revenge or simply not wanting to.

"You must get a bell before the timer goes off, and if you want one, you'll have to come at me with the intent to kill," he said seriously. "Your test begins… now!" commanded the man, immediately, Sakura and Sasuke leapt out of sight and into the surrounding trees and bushes. Kikioko and Naruto however, remained where they were. Kakashi raised a brow, "You two realize the test has started right?" he asked.

Naruto and Kiki just gave vicious grins and said in perfect unison, "Oh we know,"

Kakashi stared at them, "Compared to the other two, you guys are a little…odd," he finished.

"Being normal is boring," Kiki stated.

"Besides, if you're anywhere near as good as Echo-sensei, then hiding from you is a waste of time," Naruto added, holding his scythe in front of him while Kiki drew two kunai.

Kakashi shrugged and reached for his weapon pouch. Thinking he was reaching for a weapon, Naruto and Kiki, readied to dodge or deflect. However, Kakashi simply drew his orange book and began reading. Naruto and Kiki glared at the man.

"What the hell are you doing?" Naruto demanded.

"Reading," he answered.

"He means why are you reading you jackass!" Kikioko spat, now thoroughly annoyed with the white haired man.

"Ma, ma, no need for hurtful words," Kakashi reprimanded lightly, "I'm reading to find out what happens next, besides, it's not like it'll change anything if I'm reading or not," declared the man, giggling as he read a certain paragraph.

Killing intent flooded the area as Kiki and Naruto screamed, "Don't underestimate us!" with that the two rushed the man, Naruto raising his scythe, to cut through the man's book while Kiki threw her kunai at the man, aiming for his head. Kakashi merely caught the weapon by the pole before it could do any damage and leaned his body out of the way of the weapons.

"Lesson one, taijutsu," Kakashi stated calmly before kicking Naruto away. "The art of hand to hand combat, or in this case, close quarters combat,"

Naruto growled and swung his scythe again, making full use of his long weapon. Kakashi merely jumped over it, but while in the air, Kiki attempted to strike him down with her throwing knives. The jounin merely drew a kunai and blocked the weapons.

However when he landed, Naruto was there, attempting to cut him down, slashing diagonally. Kakashi merely raised his kunai to block the blade, but had to quickly jump away when the kunai did nothing to stop the razor sharp black blade. He had little time to recover because Kiki was once again on him, this time in close range trying to slash him across the chest. When he simply leaned back, she used her momentum to bring her leg up in a round kick to his face.

Kakashi grabbed it but had to release when Naruto appeared from above.

Kakashi jumped back and saw that Naruto's weapon had changed. Somehow, the blade was now coming straight out of the top, like a spear.

"Ha! You lose sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. Kakashi raised a brow and stared at him.

"You do realize you still don't have a bell, right?" Kakashi pointed out.

"True, but look at your hands," Kiki grinned. Glancing down, the jounin was confused.

'_What is she talking about, there's nothing wrong with my hands'_ he thought staring at his empty gloved palms. Wait… EMPTY? Franticly the man looked up and to his horror saw his precious Icha Icha, speared through the spine by Naruto's scythe.

"We win sensei, you said you could beat us just as easily with the book, as without. Seems you were wrong, dattebayo," Naruto said smugly as Kiki grinned behind him. Yanking the book free, the blonde read a few pages before his face turned red and he quickly threw it to Kiki. Curious she read it.

There were a few seconds of silence, then, she screamed in fury and horror, "HENTAI!" With fury, the girl shredded the book with her knives before stomping it into the dirt and setting fire to it with a low-level fire jutsu.

Kakashi stared in horror for a few seconds before he saw red. Releasing killing intent of unimaginable levels, the man pointed at the now scared genin, "You…" he ground out, "You'll pay for destroying my precious!" with that he flew at them with speed neither genin could follow.

"Shit!" Naruto exclaimed, before either could do anything, Kiki was kicked harshly in the side and sent crashing into a tree. Eyes widening the blonde roared and swung his scythe at the man. "BASTARD!"

However the man was already gone and appeared behind Naruto, crouched and his hands clasped in the tora handsign.

From her hiding place, Sakura gasped as she saw it, _'That handsign is used for powerful fire jutsu!'_ "Naruto! Watch out!" she screamed.

"Huh?" Naruto asked stupidly. Unfortunately it was too late.

"**Sennen Goroshi!"** yelled Kakashi, and with that declaration, the jounin shoved both of his fingers up Naruto's ass. There was a pause then…

"AAAGGGG!" Naruto screamed and flew through the air, his hands clasping his bottom as he landed in the nearby river.

"That's for my Icha! Now stay down!" Kakashi yelled as he vanished into the surrounding foliage.

After witnessing that attack, Sakura didn't know if she should be terrified, disgusted or embarrassed, but she did know that she had to find Sasuke. If Naruto and Kikioko couldn't take him on, then she had no chance on her own and neither did Sasuke._ 'Maybe I should go and see if Kikioko and Naruto-baka are ok'_ she mused as she quietly crept through the forest in search of her crush. **"Are you kidding? Those two are either dead or out cold! Best bet is to find Sasuke-kun and team up against that bastard! Let the baka and freak get sent back to the academy, we have to get those bells so we can finally win over Sasuke! Shannaro!"** declared her inner. She nodded to herself.

Hearing a twig snap, the girl whirled around, kunai raised and in a defensive position. "Come out! I know you're there Kakashi-sensei!" she called. Out from the bushes ran a squirrel and Sakura sighed in relief. "Just a squirrel," she muttered before frowning, "But I could of sworn I felt sensei's chakra," she muttered.

"And you would be right," said a voice behind her. Whirling around, Sakura came face to face with Kakashi. "Yo," he greeted before making a snake then rat handseal, **"Magen: Narakumi no jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique)"**

Leaves swirled around Sakura as her sensei disappeared. At first, she was confused, but thanks to the extra years in the academy, she was able to tell she was caught in a genjutsu. Frowning, she shut her eyes and closed off her senses so the illusion wouldn't affect her, "KAI!" she yelled, spiking her chakra and dispelling the illusion.

Slowly she opened her eyes, and smiled at seeing she was in the same clearing, and her sensei gone. "Wha? Where did Kakashi go?" she muttered to herself.

"Here!" before she could react, Kakashi had chopped the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious.

"Well, at least she has some talent," Kakashi mused as he jumped away in search of Sasuke, "I honestly expected her to be crashing through the forest and screaming out Sasuke's name, then falling for the genjutsu like any other fangirl," he shrugged, "Guess the extra years help, wonder how the rookie of the year does,"

With that, the man landed in a clearing to see Sasuke already waiting for him, "You do realize Kiki-chan and Naruto-kun already tried this right?"

"I'm not like them," Sasuke stated. Immediately, he threw several shuriken at the man, Kakashi dodged easily but was surprised when one of the stars sliced through a hidden wire, causing a veritable wall of kunai to be thrown at him. He dodged once more, but had little time to recover as Sasuke tried to jump kick him from the left with his family taijutsu.

The white haired man grabbed his ankle with his right hand. Twisting, Sasuke launched a punch with his left which again Kakashi blocked. However he pushed him away when he heard the jingle of a bell. _'So he was just trying to grab a bell, not land a hit, very nice'_ Kakashi thought before widening his one visible eye at the hand signs Sasuke was doing. _'No way! He already learned that jutsu?'_

Inhaling, Sasuke put his right thumb and index finger in front of his mouth in the shape of a ring, **"Katon! Gokakyu no Jutsu!(Fire release! Great Fireball Jutsu!)"** Sasuke yelled before exhaling a large fireball at his teacher. When it cleared, the last Uchiha was not surprised to find his sensei had vanished. "Damn it! Where will he attack from next? Behind? From the side? Above?"

"Below!" came Kakashi's muffled response as two hands emerged from the earth, latching onto Sasuke's ankles, **"Doton: Shnju Zanshu no Jutsu!(Earth release: Headhunter Jutsu!)"** declared Kakashi's voice as Sasuke was dragged into the ground, only leaving his head visible. Growling, the self-proclaimed avenger tried to get out but found it impossible to break free.

"Not bad Sasuke," Kakashi stated as he crouched in front of the teenager, "But you still don't have a bell, and Naruto and Kiki could have gotten one if that had been their focus," Kakashi sighed before standing up, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go, ja ne!" with that, the man shushined back to the clearing where he had started the test.

Sasuke seethed as he tried to break out, but found out he was well and truly stuck. Sighing, the boy closed his eyes and began to think when a certain voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Oi! Teme, you alive?"

Sasuke opened his eyes to see his teammates surrounding him. Naruto was crouched in front of him with a grin, while Kiki smiled cutely at him and gave him a tiny wave. Sakura was behind her and seconds from a panic attack it seemed.

"What do you want dobe?" Sasuke asked in annoyance.

"Hey! That's no way to be talking to someone who is trying to help you ya jerk!" Naruto shot back with a frown.

"Sasuke-kun's not a jerk you baka! Just get him out of there!" Sakura shouted. Grumbling, the blonde began digging and soon had the brooder free of the earth. Grunting his thanks the boy made to leap off, but was stopped when Naruto grabbed his arm.

"Where the heck are you going?" he asked.

"What do you think? I need that bell to pass so I'm going to get one," huffed the black haired boy.

Kiki raised a brow, "And you expect to that yourself? Not uh, Scarecrow-sensei is way too strong to take on alone, me and Naruto had a tough time just trying to destroy his book,"

"The jerk nearly drowned me for it too! Who the hell shoves their fingers up another person's ass anyway? It's just gross, ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I don't care," Sasuke deadpanned, "I touched the bell last time, I'll get it for sure this time," he stated.

Kiki rolled her eyes, "Well how about we help anyway? You know, just in case?" she suggested.

"And have you take the bells for yourselves? I don't think so," Sasuke stated. Naruto face palmed at that.

"Oh just shut up! Look, you can have a bell if you want one so damn bad! I just want that scarecrow to lose to at least one of us!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke just grunted.

Kiki sighed, "Look I'm of the same opinion as Whiskers-kun is, you and Sakura can have the bells if it makes you feel better," she stated.

"Please Sasuke-kun? You're guaranteed a bell!" Sakura pleaded.

Sasuke stared at them with narrowed eyes, before he could reply though, a loud ringing sound was heard from the main clearing. In a poof of smoke, Kakashi appeared behind his students, "Well, times up and nobody has a bell, why don't we go back to the clearing and find out why we all failed, hm?"

**Back at the clearing**

"Ok, I can kind of understand why Sakura is tied to the stump, but why is Kiki also tied to one?" Naruto asked in confusion as he and Sasuke sat at the base of them, bento boxes in their hands.

"She destroyed my Icha Icha," Kakashi said simply.

"That book is nothing but smut! You're just a one eyed pervert, you stupid scarecrow!" Kiki shot back, not at all liking being tied up._ 'Well, maybe if it was Naruto-kun and- NO! Bad Kiki! Bad!'_ she shook her head furiously, the prongs of her jester hat whipping furiously through the air.

"Either way, I've decided not to fail you guys," Kakashi smiled. The genin looked hopeful, "In fact, you guys should just give up being shinobi all together," he said harshly.

"What?" they cried, disbelief and anger on their faces.

Kakashi merely shook his head, "All of you missed the point of this exercise except for Naruto and Kikioko," he began calmly.

"What? Neither of them even came close to a bell!" Sasuke stated in anger.

"Because neither of them were going for one," Kakashi said, "All of you failed for your own reasons,"

"Naruto and Kikioko," he began, catching their attention, "You let your anger and annoyance get the best of you and therefore lost sight of the mission objective, if you had gone after the bells from the start, you'd have gotten one," he stated seriously. The two merely looked away in embarrassment. Echo had constantly told them to think before acting and to control and channel their emotions in battle.

"Sakura," Kakashi spoke, catching her attention, "You did nothing to help Naruto or Kiki when they attacked, nor when they got injured. Both of them could have died or been seriously wounded, yet you left in search of Sasuke," Sakura looked ashamed and even her inner had nothing to say because the cold truth hurt.

"And Sasuke," the brooder merely narrowed his eyes, "You did nothing to help any of your teammates and went off on your own from the very start," he stated, "while your individual skill is impressive, you would have been killed had this been a real mission and I a real enemy," the Uchiha's scowl deepend, "You also rushed in already thinking your allies would be nothing but burdens and even when they came to help, you still thought them useless," Kakashi frowned, "You completely missed the point of this exercise," he finished.

Sasuke growled and lunged at his sensei, kunai in hand, before he could do anything however, Kakashi had him pinned on the ground, his arm that was wielding the kunai held behind his back and the weapon at the back of his skull.

"This is what I mean," Kakashi said frowning, "If you don't think before rushing into things, you will surely fail, and your teammates lives may be in danger as well, for example, Naruto!" the blonde looked up with wide eyes, "Kill Kiki and Sakura or Sasuke dies!" he ordered, The blonde just sat there, stunned at the order.

"Now, who can tell me why you were split into teams? Ask yourself why would they split you into teams, only to have a portion of it fail? Why would there only be two bells, when at least three of you would have to work together to beat me?" he asked.

Sakura immediately knew the answer, "This was a test of teamwork," she said slowly. "This was to test if we had what it took to work together, even if it meant one of us dying," she finished. Realization soon shone in both Kiki's and Narto's eyes as well as Sasuke's.

Getting off him, the jounin walked over to the black stone and said, "This stone is dedicated to the heroes of this village, the men and women who gave their lives to protect their home, friends, and family," he paused and rested a hand on the black marble surface, "Many of my dearest friends are on this stone, and one of them taught me a rule I'll never forget,"

He turned to face his students, his one visible eye brimming with seriousness, "Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends, are worse than scum," he said sagely. His words struck deep, none more deeper then Naruto.

'_He's right… Am I worse than scum for pushing my friends away? Goza, Echo, Hinata, Shikamaru, Jiji… Kiki-chan?'_ thought Naruto.

"**You're not scum Naru-kun, you're not abandoning them, just making it so they won't get hurt because of you,"** Kyuubi whispered softly to her container.

She was met with silence as Naruto contemplated his vow. He didn't notice when Kakashi walked up to them again, but he did snap out of his internal conflict when he heard him sigh and speak again, "Ok, I'll give you guys one more chance," he stated, much to the joy and delight of his students, "BUT!" here he held up a finger, "Neither of you are to feed Sakura or Kiki, if you do, I'll kick you out of the program for good! Got it?" he asked. The boys nodded and soon their teacher was gone.

Sasuke started eating his lunch, ignoring the gurgled cries of hunger that emitted from both girls' bellies. Naruto however, was staring hard at his food, then, he stood up, bento in hand and walked up to the starving red head.

"Hm? Naruto-kun what are you doing?" asked the black dressed girl. Se was surprised when the blonde merely held up a chopstick full of rice.

"Eat up Kiki-chan, I know you're starving," he said brightly. Kiki looked at him, not believing her ears. After three long years, he was calling her chan again! And he was offering to feed her! The girl's heart filled with joy as a red blush overcame her face.

"Dobe, what the hell are you doing?" Sasuke demanded. Sakura was also looking at him as if he was crazy.

"We'll fail if you feed us!" Sakura hissed.

Naruto merely frowned, "I don't care, I'm not about to stuff my face while you and Kiki-chan starve! Besides, you'll guys be tired and unfit for the retest if you're starving!" he explained. He turned his head back to Kikioko and smiled brightly, "Open up Kiki-chan!" he ordered happily.

The girl, blushed an even deeper red, but opened her mouth and happily accepted the food offered to her. Sasuke stared at them before sighing and standing in front of Sakura, his chopsticks full of rice, "Come on, lets get this over with," he sighed. Sakura just stared before a giant grin came over her face nd she eagerly opened her mouth, enjoying the fact that Sasuke was feeding her.

'_Sasuke-kun is feeding me!'_ she thought joyously _'Ino-pig and the others will be sooo jealous!' _**"Hell yeah! The power of true love prevails!"** shouted her inner.

However, they were interrupted when Kakashi appeared in a poof of smoke, followed by a darkening sky and the boom of thunder. His lone eye was filled with fury as he pointed a finger at the genin, "You broke the rules!" he thundered, lightning flashing across the sky behind him as howling winds stirred the air, "Do you know what this means for you?" he asked in a rage.

Naruto merely stood in front of Kiki protectively while Sasuke took out a kunai and quickly freed the two girls, ready to fight if they had to. The group tensed as their sensei seemed to summon the power of nature itself to destroy them. "YOU ALL!" he yelled.

Sakura closed her eyes and hid behind Sasuke as he looked with fear at his sensei. Kiki quickly grabbed Naruto, who held her protectively and lifted his scythe in preparation.

"Pass," Kakashi said happily, the terrifying weather disappearing.

They looked at him blankly and Sakura shakily asked, "W-What?"

"You, all of you, pass," he said simply. They stared at him and once again Sakura spoke up, "But we broke the rules," she said in confusion.

Kakashi nodded, "True, you did, but don't you remember what I said?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto slowly spoke, "Those who break the rules are scum, but, those who abandon their friends are worse than scum?'' he asked warily. He smiled when his sensei nodded in response.

"Correct, in Konoha, while the mission is important, your comrades are much more important," he stated. "So, starting tomorrow, Team 7 is on active duty!" he exclaimed, giving a thumbs up to the group who exploded into cheers.

**Later at the hokage tower**

"Right then," Sarutobi said loudly over the milling group of jounin sensei who had come to report their team's as passing or failing. In attendance was all the jounin sensei, wthe council plus the hokage, and Echo. They were in the council room since it was the only place big enough to house this many people. "Jounin, please report," the hokage stated. Fredrick held up a scroll, ready to record the results.

"Team 1 fails, they're good, but not ready," stated a jounin.

"Team 2 needs more training," said another.

"Team 3, fail," said a kunoichi.

"Team 4 missed the point entirely, too much brawn, no brain," commented another shinobi.

"Team 5 fails as well,"

"Team 6, fail,"

Sarutobi looked up when he didn't hear Kakashi and sighed, "Since Kakashi isn't here yet, Team 8?"

Kurenai smiled, "They pass with flying colors," she stated. Hiashi merely inclined his head while Shibiclapped politely along with the others. Tsume gave a loud congratulation.

"Team 9 is still in circulation, so team 10?" Fredrick asked politely.

Asuma smiled lazily, "The newest generation of Ino-Shik-Cho pass with flying colors," he said. The last generation merely smiled in pride, knowing their children would do well. Not seconds after the announcement, a poof of smoke heralded the arrival of Kakashi Hatake.

"Yo," he greeted, "Sorry I was late but I had to buy a new copy of Icha Icha," he stated happily. The gathered people stared at him. New Icha Icha? There weren't any new novels.

"And why would you need a new one Hatake-kun?" Goza asked. They'd met when Goza revealed he sold every copy of the series along with other similar products. Kakashi was a bit of regular customer in both weapons and literary smut at his shop.

"Because your daughter and Naruto destroyed my old one," he said mournfully. No one would have believed him if it weren't for his sad tone.

Goza just laughed at that while Echo merely raised a brow and scratched his head. ""Riiight, I know I'm not really part of the council, but could you just tell us Team 7's results?" he asked. Kakashi nodded.

"Team 7" he paused then eye smiled, "Passed," he declared, shocking many of the people in the room. Kakashi never passed anyone! This Team 7 must be good!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said a jounin, "Kakashi actually passed a team? Who the hell is on that team?" he demanded, murmurs of agreement spreading through the group.

Hiruzen merely smiled and waved his hand for silence, "Team 7 consists of Naruto Uzumaki, Kikioko Atezuiryo, and Sakura Haruno," he declared proudly. There were more murmurs. A four man team? Composed of the last loyal Uchiha, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, the only passing civilian child and the mysterious daughter of Goza?

Team 7 promised to be quite the interesting group!

**A/N: Done! Wow this one is 42 pages and over 11,000 words! Jeez… Huh you ever notice how I always post these at like 2 A.M? Oh well, be sure to review! Till next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Right then! Thanks for the reviews! Thought I feel I have to respond to some reviewers. **

**AHEM!**

**Dhh: Yes it may seem worn out the whole, make Team 7 a four man team thing because I've added an OC, but I have plans for Sakura. They aren't apparent now, but they will be soon enough! Besides, I may or may not drop her from the chuunin exams. As for letting Mizuki beat up Naruto and Kiki, that plays a crucial role in the unfolding drama! Oh well, can't please them all I suppose.**

**UNSpacy000: Oh trust me, Naruto will get quite the wake up call. Just trying my hand at the whole angst stuff ya know?**

**Tokero6294: Caps don't bug me, and not mentioning Sasuke was a goof on my part.**

**Inferno Pheonix: Relax, there's more happening than you think. I've got it handled, ok? Besides, Kakashi's saying is going to pry at him. Just relax and wait. The Kyuubi is not what she seems.**

**Hmm… Ok, let's start the story!**

**Oh and a cyber cookie for whoever can figure out what Kiki is! And another for those who guess Echo's origins correctly :3**

"Naruto, talk, now," Echo demanded as he grabbed the boy by the collar and shushined them to the Boneyard. It was a bright morning, a few hours before Naruto had to meet with his team. As it were, the blonde was bewildered to find himself sprawled on the ground in front of his sensei when he had just finished exiting his apartment.

"Wha? What the heck Echo-sensei!" demanded the blonde.

"You've been acting strange for three years, ever since that incident with Mizuki, talk, something more happened that night that you're not telling me," he growled.

Naruto shrugged, "I'm fine sensei," he reassured. He was unprepared for the foot that found it's way into the side of his head.

"DO NOT BULLSHIT ME!" Echo barked, "If I have to beat you to get my answer I will, but your soul wavelength is out of whack," he stated as Naruto struggled back up from the surprise attack. "You're going to tell me,"

"Since when do you care?" Naruto shot back aggressively, "All you've ever done is train me, that's it! What god given right do you have to inquire about my life, huh?"

"I have it when you refuse to talk about it after three years," he replied simply, "Fredrick has asked, Sarutobi has asked, Kiki has asked, EVERYONE has asked, and now it's my turn," he looked Naruto straight in the eye, "Whats wrong?"

"Why do you all think something is wrong? My best friend was nearly murdered because of me, excuse me if that changes me!" Naruto snapped, now thoroughly annoyed. Another kick sent him rolling, "Why the hell do you keep hitting me?"

"I said if I had to beat it out of you I would," Echo stated, "However I already have a hunch on to why you're keeping us at arms length,"

Naruto looked away. Echo sighed at his stubborn attitude, "I don't know what she said," he began, "But treat her every word as you would treat her, with extreme caution and scrutiny,"

"It's for the best," Naruto mumbled. He was struck once more, this time by the shovel. The blonde grabbed the side of his face and pulled it away to show blood on his palm. Astonished he looked up into the glowering eyes of his sensei

"That's not the Uzumaki I know," hissed the man. "She is a fox, boy, a trickster by nature and what's more a very old demon,"

"And what does that have to do with it? She's locked inside of me, it's not like she can do anything!" Naruto spat. He got up and glared at his teacher, "So if it's okay with you, I'm going to my meeting,"

Echo merely narrowed his eyes at the boy, "Fine, but take it from me, isolation is hell, worse when you do nothing to change it, and thats when your inner demons start to take control," he began walking away, "Get to your meeting, but we're not done talking,"

Naruto just huffed, but he couldn't shake his sensei's words. _'What if he's right? This doesn't make sense, do i really want this?'_

"**Don't listen to him Naru-kun, you're doing the right thing,"** Kyuubi's voice interrupted with a sultry purr, **"I'll always be here for you,"** Naurto's eyes unfocused a bit as he nodded.

In her seal the fox demon frowned _**'You will not interfere a second time'**_ she thought as she sensed Echo's soul slowly leave.

**Team 7 meeting spot**

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted as he appeared in a puff of smoke, two hours late once again.

"YOU"RE LATE!" Sakura yelled.

"Sorry, I had to help a priest exorcise some demons who had taken residence in my sock drawers," he replied.

"LIAR!" Sakura screamed.

Sasuke merely sighed_ 'And now the dobe and freak will try and kill him'_ he thought. True to word, Kiki and Naruto tried to decapitate him, but, like their last attempts for the last three months, it failed because Kakashi merely ducked.

"Now then, how about we get some training done ne?" he asked happily. The students groaned. Three months in and all they had learned was team exercided and tree climbing. Actually they had fine tuned their tree walking, they'd learned about using their chakra to stick to things during the year dedicated to learning about chakra and jutsu. As such they'd spent a lot of their time doing team exercises and spars, either against each other or their sensei. That and D ranks, and Kakashi's 'special' missions, which were more along the lines of simulations.

"Ma, ma, I'm sure you guys will love this special training," Kakashi assured.

"You mean like the time you kidnapped Sakura, and we had to find and rescue her before she ran out of oxygen?" Kiki asked with a small frown. Sakura shuddered at that. Sensei had locked her in a crateon top of the hokage tower, she'd been tied and bound for an hour before she broke free, when trying to break out of the box however, that proved impossible thanks to some fancy seal work by Kakashi.

In the end they found her thanks to her constant chakra spikes. Kakashi said it was in case they ever found themselves searching for an ally who was captured while doubling as what to do when captured.

They were pretty sure he was making them all suffer for the death of his Icha Icha.

"Just follow me and you'll see," Kakashi eye smiled. Sighing the group followed their sensei. As they walked, Kakashi took the time to evaluate his students.

'_Let's see. What do my cute little genin need to learn to improve?'_'he thought. Glancing behind him, he noticed Kiki seemed to be fussing over Naruto about his rather battered appearance, apparently Naruto and his former teacher, Echo, had gotten into a bit of a fight. Naruto kept assuring her he was fine, but the red head fussed still until the blonde finally laughed and slung an arm around her shoulders, saying she worried too much. The girl blushed slightly but laughed along with him, playfully swatting him and telling him it was her job. Kakashi smiled, those two were the best of friends and trusted each other completely. It showed in their teamwork exercises.

He frowned though when he saw Sakura and Sasuke. She was having a one sided conversation with him, but Sasuke didn't show he cared in any way. Sakura was better than when they first met but she needed some serious physical work and something to break her fan girlish tendencies. She had broken a couple habits like attacking Naruto and fighting with Kiki, but that was because Kiki nearly gutted her when she had had enough of Sakura abusing her friend. It was a little tense between them, but Kakashi held onto hope that she'd come around and they'd at least develop a cordial relation ship. It was more hope then e had for Sasuke though.

The boy was a glacier. He worked with his team, but he did not trust them and was quick to point out their flaws before his own. Humble was something Sasuke was not. He immediately took role as 'leader' in every one of Kakashi's mission simulations and while he was good at, he didn't treat his teammates with any form of respect and thus caused Kiki and Naruto to resent him, thus hesitant to receiving orders. Sakura followed despite everything, but she had started showing some resentment to his treatment. Sasuke needed to learn trust and humility.

Kakashi sighed at that. _'A humble Uchiha? Dear lord this is going to be next to impossible' _

Finally arriving Kakashi turned with a happy face to look at his confused students.

"Where are we?" Sasuke demanded/

"Yeah this ain't the usual training ground!" Naruto exclaimed. It was true, the place they were at was nothing like their training field. Their usual training ground was in training ground seven, this place was nothing like it.

While there were trees, there weren't many. Instead there were man bamboo stalks. There was a small clear ring in the center and to the north was a small mountain, more like a rocky cliff. East and west of the ring was bamboo and to the south, was forest with a small trail leading to it.

"Correct, this place is Trainig ground 17, also known as The Harmonious Field," Kakashi stated, "This place is where one comes to train both the body, and the mind as,"

"So why are we here?" asked Sakura.

"For your personal training!" he exclaimed happily. The genins' faces lit up at this prospect.

"You mean you're actually going to teach us something?" Naruto asked excitedly. He was lightly smacked by two hands for the remark, one from Kiki, and the other from Sakura.

"Baka! Kakashi sensei is offering something, be polite," Sakura scolded lightly. He pouted childishly for a moment before his eyes lit up in excitement. "So what are you gonna teach us?" asked the jinchuuriki excitedly.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Well you all have a weakness that needs to be taken into account of and from here until I say so, we will be training those weaknesses," he said lazily. The group was confused but nodded anyway, Sasuke more hesitantly than the others.

"Right then, first lets start with Sakura," Kakashi began, making the girl squirm a bit, "You're a very intelligent young lady Sakura-chan, and you're control is excellent," she smiled a bit at the praise, "But," she stopped smiling, "you're physical strength and battle reflexes are shoddy," he stated. She deflated at that. "You're endurance is below average as is your taijutsu. Your reflexes and flexibility are about the same as a trained civilian, i.e. an academy student," she got a depressed aura around her at that, "However," she looked up bleakly, "Your physical strength is quite astonishing. It has the potential to match that of Tsunade's, but not without the proper training," she looked awed by the description before a determined look over came her face.

"What do I do sensei?" she asked seriously, a fire burning in her emerald eyes.

Kakashi smirked, "We'll start with your endurance and reflexes," Kakashi stated. "You will run around this clearing for thirty minutes while I throw these at you," Kakashi said as he withdrew a small rubber ball from his vest pocket. "I won't lie Sakura, these things hurt when they hit," he warned.

The pink haired girl looked a little scared but nodded her head._ 'I'll do it, that way I'll get stronger and Sasuke-kun will notice me!'_ she thought, **"Cha! This'll be easy! Bring it on Scarecrow!" **raged her inner.

Kakashi smiled then turned his focus to Naruto, "Naruto, you're physical skill is very good and your taijutsu and weapon skills are exceptional," Naruto smirked at that. He knew he was awesome, "But," he blinked, "Your patience and chakra control is lacking. Many times you become too impatient or irritated and act irrationally because of it. You also have the worst control out of the team,"

"It's not my fault!" Naruto protested, "Jiijii says I have more chakra then most chuunin do and that its way more powerful!"

Kakashi sighed, "I know that, but that doesn't mean you can't control it," Kakashi stated, "You have intelligence Naruto, so you're more than capable of doing this, question is, will you?" challenged the silver haired man. Naruto immediately scowled, "Bring it!" he barked. Kakashi made a mental victory sign, "Right then Naruto, you are to stand upon a point on the mountain using your chakra to stick to the side. Once there, I want you to sit there and meditate for as long as possible, got it?"

"YOSH!" Naruto exclaimed before rushing off to do his task. The boy ran up the rocky surface and stopped halfway to the top. Sitting in the lotus position, a look of utter concentration made it's way onto his face.

And not even a second later, the boy came tumbling down to crash headfirst into the unforgiving ground.

"Remember to channel chakra to the other parts of your body so you stay stuck Naruto! And you might want to try a little closer to the ground," Kakashi instructed. Naruto gave him a shaky thumb up before trying once more, this time only a few feet from the ground.

And once again he fell. The team sighed and just tuned out their teammate's curses.

"Right then, Kiki your training is going to be very much different from Sakura's or Naruto's training," Kakashi stated, "You are excellent with knives, both in throwing them and in close combat. You are the most flexible of this entire team and have near perfect reflexes, but," she waited, head tilted to the side, "you have little to no taijutsu skills, all your fighting seems to require a knife in hand,"

"Well yeah, I've never been caught without one and Tou-san said my family never really fought without some kind of weapon, actually he said they didn't really let their opponents get anywhere close to them," she replied.

Kakashi shrugged, "Nonetheless Kiki-chan, It will be better if you learn some hand to hand combat," he stated. Kiki sighed but nodded anyway. Smirking neath his mask, Kakashi tossed the girl a scroll. "That's a fighting style from a long time ago, it was originally developed by acrobats," Kakashi explained as Kiki opened the scroll. "It's not used much anymore and focuses on flexibility and quick, decisive strikes," Kiki looked up at him, "You're a flexible person Kiki, agile and fast, and I feel this style will be perfect for you,"

Kiki smiled and looked at the title of the style. "**Dansufaita(Dancing Fighter)**" she said aloud. She then read the instructions for conditioning and snapped her head to stare at Kakashi with disbelief. "I have to WHAT?" she exclaimed, causing Naruto to once again fall from his perch.

"You have to swing, jump and spin through all these bamboo stalks. Sort of like free running I suppose," he stated, "Spend about ten, maybe fifteen minutes doing this and then try the first few katas," he ordered. Kiki groaned slightly but bounded into the bamboo.

Kakashi nodded at that before turning back to his final student, "Sasuke…" he paused causing the last Uchiha to cock a brow at him. "You are pretty well rounded; your taijutsu is good, as is your weapon skills, physical physique, patience and even your chakra skill is up to standards," Sasuke smirked at this, "And because of that I have nothing to teach you,"

"WHAT!" Sasuke shouted in anger causing Naruto to lose his focus once more and crash into the ground. At the same time Kiki stopped, swinging through the bamboo, now clutching onto one of the long shoots in panic.

"Ma, ma, that doesn't mean I won't teach you anything," Kakashi stated inwardly laughing at his student's expression, "Now Sasuke, I know you're good at hand to hand, but since half of them already are adept at fighting with a weapon, I intend to have you and Sakura learn to use weapons as well,"

Sakura looked confused at that, "If that's true then how come I'm not being taught to use a weapon," Sakura asked.

"Because I want you to have some physical conditioning before I give you your weapon Sakura, so start running," he declared. She sighed but went off anyways.

"So where's this weapon you're giving me?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi merely took a scroll from another one of his pockets, unfurled it and made a single handsign, "Kai!" he barked. In a poof of smoke, a standard katana appeared in Kakashi's hand. It had a black hilt and a simple steel blade with a square guard.

"Here ya go Sasuke, you'll have to freestyle with it until I can find a proper style for you," Kakashi stated.

Sasuke looked at the blade and frowned slightly, "Is there anything special about this blade?" he asked.

"Nope," replied a smiling Kakashi, "Just a regular sword," at the disapproving glare from his student he held up his hands defensively, "You can't expect to get a powerful weapon right off the bat Sasuke, I'm sure Naruto had to work quite hard for his scythe, RIGHT NARUTO?" he shouted, once again the blonde slammed into the earth.

"ITAI! What the hell was that for? I nearly had it, dattebayo!" shouted the blonde.

"I was just telling Sasuke you had to work hard for your scythe," Kakashi stated, "I mean, Huxley didn't give you that blade right off the bat, now did he?"

Naruto snorted, "Well duh, I had to spend six months using a crappy wooden thing, then I spent maybe a year using the real thing, nearly decapitated myself several times with it! Even then it wasn't my scythe, ya know what I mean?"

"What do you mean, not yours?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I mean, I still wasn't even adequate with it! Fredrick-jiijii says I could consider myself intermediate when I could cut him and then he'd give me 'my' scythe, wasn't easy either, dattebayo,"

"'Your' scythe?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, had to save up a fortune and customize it before I got this thing, and jiijii only let me have it after I cut him so, I worked hard for this thing, put my money, blood, sweat and hell, even my tears to get this! Now you done interrogating me so I can go back to my training?" Naruto asked. Kakashi waved him off and the blonde jumped back to work.

"Now Sasuke, how about you try and get a feel for that sword, ne? Head into the bamboo and cut some of it down, but don't hurt Kiki, got it?" Sasuke grunted and stalked off into the bamboo.

Kakashi eye smiled, "Now then, what else did I have to do?" he wondered. Snapping his fingers he exclaimed, "Oh yeah!" grabbing the small rubber ball from earlier, the jounin threw it at the running form of Sakura.

And nailed her right in the forehead. "ITAI!"

"You have to learn to dodge or block Sakura-chan!" Kakashi called as he threw another.

"ITAI! My back!"

"or you can just let them hit you! Reflexes or pain tolerance… your choice!"

**Two hours later**

Hiruzen sighed as he sorted through another mission pile. "Kami why does there have to be paperwork everywhere?" he mumbled.

"Oh come now, the work isn't so bad and it beats being stabbed at don't it?" asked a pale man. Hiruzen glanced at his friend and sighed.

"I'd rather be facing down an enemy I could actually kill Fredrick-kun," sighed the old man.

Fredrick chuckled before shuffling his own pile of mission scrolls. Today the old reaper had decided to help out in the mission room. The old being could be found anywhere in the tower, dealing with documents, archives, wherever he could lend a bony hand. "Either way, I hope Naruto and his team show up soon, Goza has a special mission especially for them," he stated happily.

As if on cue the door opened and in stumbled Team 7, looking quite haggard except for the happily smiling jounin. "Konichiwa! Team 7 reporting for duty!" Kakashi greeted.

The two old men sweatdropped at the sight in front of them, "Kakashi… what did you do to your team?" asked Sarutobi.

"Training," Kakashi replied

"It… wasn't so bad…." Sakura started. She was covered in bruises and looked ready to fall over any minute.

"Yeah, not so bad at all," Kiki stated, smiling nervously. She looked ragged and dirty with pieces of bamboo stuck in her hair. She had an arm in a sling at the moment and she was currently supporting a swirly-eyed Naruto whose head was covered in bumps.

"But I don't want to go to the kabuki theater Mr. Ramen, I want to go to the moon and fight the one eyed monster!" Naruto mumbled.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. He was cut up and had various bandages covering his body, and his clothes had slashes all over them. _'Swordsmanship is harder than it looks'_ thought the Uchiha.

Fredrick raised a brow then shook his head. "I'll ask when Naruto is capable of coherent thought, but for now, I have a mission for you guys from Goza," with that, the skeleton man handed Kakashi a small beige scroll, "Said no one else would do for the job," Fredrick explained.

"Wait is this another D-rank?" Naruto demandd, "I already work at Pointy Ears' shop every day! There's no way I'm taking this as a mission!" Naruto exclaimed, his arms crossed in an X in front of him.

"Good to see your healing is still as quick as ever Naruto my boy," Fredrick commented, "But you'll be happy to know this is no D-rank, it's a C-rank," Fredrick informed.

"C-C-rank?" Sakura exclaimed, "Are we even ready, I mean, we just finished team exercises and-," she was cut off when a comforting hand found it's way onto her shoulder. Turning she saw that it was Naruto with his foxy smile flashed at her.

"Relax Sakura-chan," Naruto assured, "I'm sure Pointy Ears wouldn't send us on a dangerous mission,"

Sakura stared at him then hesitantly nodded. Naruto clapped her shoulder one more time before turning to Kakashi. "So whats the mission?" he asked, determination in his eyes.

**At Konoha's north gate**

"Your job is to protect me and my troupe!" Goza told them happily. Behind him was a caravan and several carriages, all holding stuff or people.

"Troupe?" Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto asked while Kiki squealed in excitement. "Eh? Why are you so happy Kiki-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto you know how Tou-san and most everyone else always left the village for a couple days in the summer?" Kiki asked in excitement.

Naruto thought for a moment, "Well yeah," he started slowly before frowning, "Echo sensei and Jack always watched the shop while you stayed with me and Huxley," he stated. He scowled though, "But you'd never tell me where he goes, or why he was gone!"

Kiki nodded, "That's because I was always too depressed to tell you," she stated, "I was bummed that I couldn't go because of the academy," she explained. "Every year since Tou-san found me, I've gone with them, but since I started the academy at eight, I haven't been able to," she smiled brightly, "But now I can go again! And you're coming with me!" she exclaimed happily.

"But what is it!" Sakura asked.

"The One Stop Annual Carnival of Oddities!" Goza declared from the driver seat of his caravan. "Every year we go to one location and put on a carnival for three days! For those three days we have tons of stuff! Competitions, shops, games, rides, and everyday we put on a circus show!" Goza exclaimed, "Then we finish up with a spectacular fireworks show!"

"It's so amazing!" Kiki exclaimed.

"And the money we rake in!" Goza drooled, his eyes replaced with dollar signs. "Well! Times a wastin so get on board and lets go! HYAH!" Goza exclaimed, cracking the reins. Immediately the caravan set out. The ninja followed them through the trees and, once there, Kakashi decided to give the orders.

"Ok, this is a fairly big group so I need you guys on full alert," Kakashi stated, "This is a C-rank so there's a low chance of encountering any enemy ninja, but don't rule out the possibility," he warned. The others nodded in understanding, "At the least, we'll encounter bandits, but don't underestimate them," Kakashi stated sternly. Another nod. "Right, soon, we'll be out of the forests, when we are, I want at least two of you near the back while one holds the front with Goza. The sides and center will be taken by me and whoever is left,"

"Kiki-chan and I will guard the rear!" Naruto declared with the red head nodding in agreement.

"I'll take forward," Sasuke said firmly.

"Then that leaves me with you sensei," Sakura said in a slightly depressed tone. So much for guarding the back with Sasuke.

Kakashi nodded and soon the teams were in their locations. All that was left to do now was keep a look out, and stay alert. Yet, one has to wonder what conversations and occurrences will happen along this trip. A good place to start may be between Naruto and Kiki.

**Naruto and Kiki**

The duo landed on the back carriage which was a trailer. Stretching lightly, the blonde sat in the lotus position, "So… What's in this trailer?" Naruto asked. Kiki looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I think it's the fireworks trailer," she replied happily.

"Really?" Naruto asked in excitement, "You have an entire trailer dedicated to fireworks!"

Kiki nodded, "Hai, the fireworks are the best! Hito makes the ones in here special," Kiki explained happily.

"Hito?" Naruto asked. He frowned, "You mean the red skinned guy with the crazy eyes who smokes that really weird stuff?"

Kiki nodded, "Yeah, his kind are experts on all things that go boom!" she said, "I think they're called 'Bakuma' or something like that,"

"Wow…" Naruto murmured. They fell into a companionable silence and as they went, Naruto decided to see if he could spot anything.

Breathing deeply, the blonde cleared his mind and tried to do as Echo told him.

"_A reaper is something that takes souls, Naruto, but it cant do that if it can't find one"_ the loner's voice echoed in his mind, _"You must allow yourself to resonate with the world around you, feel for your soul then feel for those around you, do not think, just feel"_ releasing a sigh Naruto smiled as instead of the dark of his closed eyes, blips and dots appeared in his vision from a birds eye view.

It was strange, being able to see his soul and Kiki's at the same time, as well as the various wildlife and that of the troupe, yet thrilling and fascinating just as well.

As he sat there, the teenager could feel the emotions and intentions of the other souls around him, at least to an extent. In a way, it was like mind reading to an extent.

For a while the two stayed in that comfortable silence.

"Hey, Naruto," Kiki spoke up hesitantly. She was faced away from the blonde sitting on the edge of the trailer, her legs dangling over the side.

"What?"

"Do you…" she paused, "Do you ever think about the future?" she asked. _'Baka! What kind of stupid question is that'_ berated the girl in her mind.

Naruto broke from his soul sensing, startled by the question. _'The future? '_"What do you mean? I already said that I'd become hokage!" he laughed.

"I know, but," she shifted slightly, "But, Do you ever think about something besides hokage?" she could feel his stare burrowing into her at that, "I mean, don't you ever think about your future home?" she inquired, "Like, will it be big? Small? One bedroom or two? A single bed or a queen sized?"

"Eh? Why would I want a queen-sized bed? Seems like a lot of unnecessary space, ttebayo," Naruto stated, "And I live alone except for Huxley-jiijii and he doesn't really sleep,"

Kiki sighed, "Weelll what about when you get a girlfriend?" she asked, "You'd need a bigger bed then, wouldn't you?" If the blonde could see her face, he'd have seen her face the color of a ripe tomato.

"Eh? What does a girlfriend have to do with a bigger bed?" Naruto demanded confusedly. Kiki's face couldn't get any redder and she was shaking slightly.

"W-Well to, ah, that is, I-I mean…" she stuttered, "Uh, i- I mean, DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE LEARNED IN THE ACADEMY?" she finally shouted, turning to face the confused blonde, her face nearly on fire from embarrassment.

Naruto stared at her stupidly then asked, "What the hell does the academy have to do with this?" Naruto frowned.

"Ah…" she froze not really sure how to word it," Well… that talk… when we were learning about the body… and you know, when a man is attracted to a woman they…" at his stupid look she sighed and said two words, "Icha Icha,"

Silence, then…

"EH? WHY WOULD I TELL YOU ABOUT THAT!"

"I'M JUST TRYING TO MAKE CONVERSATION!"

"AND YOU ASK ME ABOUT THAT? ERO-KIIKI-CHAN!"

"I AM NOT!"

**Sakura and Kakashi**

Sakura sighed as she heard the shouting of her teammates. "Sheesh, sometimes I think those two are married," Sakura said aloud.

"Ma, they've been friends for quite some time Sakura-chan, it's not that surprising," Kakashi replied from atop a hay bale, lazily turning a page. Apparently the center area contained the animals food, but there didn't seem to be any animals besides the horses and oxen pulling the caravans. Either way, Sakura was walking beside the hay cart while Kakashi was lazily sitting amongst the hay. The two walked a bit longer, listening to the shouting match between Naruto and Kiki then Sakura decided to ask a question that had been bugging her.

"Hey sensei, what do you know about Naruto an Kiki?" she asked.

The lazy man glanced away from his book and raised a brow at the pink haired girl. "I know a fair amount… Why?"

She shrugged, "Well… I don't really know a lot about either of them, just Sasuke-kun,"

"And what do you know about Sasuke?" asked the jounin.

She perked up at this, "Sasuke-kun is the rookie of the year, the best in our class! He is the only surviving Uchiha besides that of his brother who is now a missing ninja. His goals in life are to restore his clan and avenge their deaths!"

Kakashi nodded, "What about his likes?"

Sakura smiled, "He says he doesn't like a lot of things but I know he likes strong people, getting stronger, tomatoes and it's rumored he likes girls with long hair!" Sakura stated confidently as she flipped her waist length hair behind her back.

"What about his dislikes," Kakashi asked. Sakura furrowed her brow then smiled, "he detests annoying and loud people like Naruto and Kikioko, and fan girls!" she said brightly.

"Weren't you a fan girl?" Kakashi pointed out._ 'Still are'_ he chuckled when he saw her devastated look.

She shook her head, "Any way! Can you tell me anything about Naruto and Kikioko?" she demanded arms crossed and looking away from her silently laughing sensei.

"Well," began the silver haired man, "From what I know, both of them are orphans," he said, much to Sakura's shock.

"O-Orphans? B-But Kiki said her father is Goza-san!" Sakura proclaimed.

"Yet Kiki looks nothing like Goza,"

"They're both expert knife throwers though! And they have the same taste in odd things!" she protested.

Kakashi shrugged, "Kiki-chan is an odd girl her self, and you can become a knife throwing expert too if you practice as often as Kiki-chan or Goza-san, and Goza's a peddler, someone who sells all sorts of things, and he's quite greedy and quite the salesman, so of course he finds everything and anything he can that he think will sell for even one yen," Kakashi stated. "Kiki-chan just likes the stuff, probably because she's never been told it's scary or strange,"

Sakura frowned at that. To her, it was startling news to know that Kiki was once an orphan. "So where's she and Goza from?" she asked.

Kakashi sighed, he knew she wasn't going to leave him alone for quite a bit, not until he answered her questions, "Well, Goza-san says he can't really claim anywhere as home, says he's always been traveling," he replied, "Though he did say he came from a pretty hot place, says it's hot as hell," he shrugged, "As for Kiki-chan, she's from Mizu no Kuni, near Kiri to be exact,"

"Kiri? But that place is so unknown, they're small, but vicious and they hate foreigners!" Sakura stated.

"They also had quite a war, Goza said he was there to collect the items from a clan house, apparently Kiki was there,"

"What was he doing at a clan house?" Sakura wondered, then her eyes widened, "Was he stealing from that house!" she exclaimed.

"No, Goza-san told me he was very close to the people who owned the place. Either Kiki was left behind, or she found the place and took refuge in it," Kakashi explained, "In any event, Goza took her in and she's been with him since she was four,"

Sakura slowly absorbed that information. _'That's scary, to be alone when you were so young, in a place torn by war and as scary as Kiri…'_ she shuddered. "Well what about Naruto? I mean at first he was nothing, but a loud mouthed idiot, but now… he's changed so much!" Sakura said in exasperation.

Kakashi sighed, "Sakura, Naruto has lived a very lonely life until he was eight. That was when Kiki-chan and the others showed up, Echo showing up a little later" he flipped another page in his book, "If you really want to know about them, ask them, their life stories are theirs to tell, not mine," with that, he buried his nose in his book and ignored the pink haired teen.

Sakura sighed when she figured Kakashi wouldn't answer her anymore. _'He has a point though'_ she mused before resuming her trek.

**With Sasuke**

Sasuke was silent as he trekked alongside the lead carriage. He had no interest in the argument of Kiki and Naruto, despite the fact he could hear it from the front. If they wanted to bicker and argue, let them, they were only useful as measurements for his strength.

"Oi! Sasuke boya, come up here and keep a fella company eh?" Goza shouted, a big grin directed at the young brooder. The Uchiha grunted, but complied nonetheless. He was the client, the one who was going to pay them for their services, no point in making him angry. Besides he could just ignore the old demon if he had to.

Jumping up, the young man sat nest to Goza, his eyes forward, and katana ready. He was alert and ready. Goza glanced and laughed at his companion's body, "Hehehe, no need to be so tense, boya!" Goza declared, "Sit and relax for a bit, we're still in friendly territory if my memory serves correct,"

Sasuke glanced out the corner of his eyes at the demon before focusing them forward again. "You've been down this road?" Sasuke questioned. It'd be good to know what to expect.

"Yeah, but we're not going to the same place," Goza stated. At Sasuke's questioning glance he chuckled, "My festival is held in a different place every year! Never go to the same place twice in a row, that's my rule,"

"So where are we going this year?" Sasuke inquired.

Goza laughed, "Not to far, not to far, we're not even going to leave Fire Country," he assured.

"That doesn't answer my question," Sasuke grunted.

"It wasn't supposed to!" laughed Goza, "There's no point in telling you now is there? That ruins the fun of the journey, what point is traveling if all you're worried about is the destination?" asked the green skinned merchant.

"People generally like to know where they are going, they like to know their destination,"

"That so? I will agree that a goal or destination is nice but the journey there is half the experience," Goza stated one finger in the air as if giving a lecture, "It'd true for both traveling and life,"he grinned as he glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of his yellow eyes, "For example, what about your goal in life? He asked.

Sasuke grunted, "To revive and avenge my clan," Sasuke responded coolly.

Goza chuckled, "And all your focusing on is the goal, you won't get anywhere. Eyes on the prize eh? But, I wonder," mused the demon, "Which goal are you focused on? The avenging or the reviving? If it's reviving then you're going about it all the wrong way, you can't make a family with such a cold personality, but if you're trying to kill your brother, you might as well kill your self while you're at it," Goza smirked at the look of shock that crossed the stoic boy's face and nearly busted out laughing at his look of anger.

"And what do you mean by that?" growled the Uchiha.

"In the quest to kill the dragon, tread carefully, lest ye become the dragon yourself," Goza replied before shrugging, "Or something along those lines," he muttered.

Sasuke just scowled at him. _'What the hell does that mean?'_ he wondered. He didn't bother asking, and they spent the rest of the trip in silence.

Well, mostly silence. NAruto and Kiki had somehow gotten into an argument about something. Goza wasn't sure, but he thought it had something to do with a king sized bed.

He also could have sworn he heard perverse giggling. Shaking his head amusedly, the goblin snapped the reins. This promised to be an interesting festival!

Unknown to them all, trouble was up ahead.

**The next day**

"WE'RE HERE!" Goza declared loudly. It was early in the morning, just an hour shy of sunrise. "Oi! Wake up you lazy bastards! What Am I paying you for?" shouted the greed green skinned goblin. Seeing no one moving, Goza developed a tic mark on his head.

"**WAKE UP OR I'LL SKIN YOU ALIVE!"** roared the demon, his poisonous youki flaring dangerously.

"Would you shut up? I was having a wonderful dream about exploding kittens!" came a ragged voice.

"Shut up and get out here Hito! I need you to provide us some light!" Goza demanded

"Why don't ya get the ninja-gakis to do it, eh? Besides, I don't provide light, I make things go boom!" replied the voice now emerging from the dark. Goza could easily see him thanks to his eyes which were producing their own light, like lamps in the dark. Because of this he could easily see the gangly and red creature in front of him.

It was hunched over with large hands and feet, yellow claws tipping his toes and fingers. In his mouth was a cigarette but instead of the regular tobacco, this smelled of charcoal and emitted a black smoke in a large column. He wore no shirt, showing off a scorched and scarred body. He was wearing brown overalls, the straps hanging free while a simple roped belt held it up. On his head was a green painted iron soldier helmet.

Finishing his look was a frown showing off his sharp teeth and a pair of discolored eyes. Both eyes had no pupils or irises to speak of, but the left was red while the right was yellow.

"They'll work," Goza assured with an placating wave, "Now, **wake them up,"** Goza commanded darkly.

Hito sighed, "Bossy little gremlin aren't you?" he grumbled. The demon clapped his hands together and inhaled. His eyes glowed for a moment then soon his entire body started glowing.

"**Hakka! Reberu 1! (Ignite! Level 1!)"** screamed the demon as he exploded in a clap of thunder and a flash of light. Immediately, the ninja were there, all in various stages of dress.

"What the hell was that! Dattebayo!" Nruto shouted, shirtless and in boxers along with his nightcap. In his hand was his scythe.

Sasuke was alert, kunai in hands and in a sleeping shirt and shorts. "Goza-san, hat was that?" Sakura asked her voice worried. She was dressed in sweat pants and tank top. Kakashi was behind her, in his usual uniform.

"Tou-san! It's too early!" complained the voice of Kiki as she stumbled out from behind one of the carriages. "And Hito, you seriously need to tone it down," she whined.

Goza rolled his eyes, "If you had noticed, people are already getting to work," the goblin pointed out, pointing to a clearing where construction could be seen taking place. "They know what the bang means," he explained. "Anyway, I want you guys to go help out, keep an eye out, ya? Make sure no ones slacking or fighting and all that," Goza stated.

"But we can't even see," Sakura protested,

"And we don't even know where everything goes," Naruto pointed out. Goza just sighed.

"Hito, please make some light and if you guys need help just ask any of the workers or supervisors," he explained as Hito offered light via his glowing palm. The genin nodded and set off. Actually Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura went off, Kiki and Naruto just grumbled and looked towards each other pitifully. Until Naruto noticed what Kiki was wearing, or, lack there of so to say.

"BAH! KIKI-CHAN! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR CLOTHES?" Naruto screamed.

She blinked, then looked down. She stared at herself for a few seconds then, looked back to see Naruto with his hands over his eyes and turned around. That's when it clicked.

'_Naruto…'_ she thought slowly, _'Justa saw me… Naked?'_

"AHHH!" she screamed, her entire face bright red as she desperately tried to cover her self. "Naruto, don't look!" she ordered.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?" Naruto shouted, not turning in her direction or removing his hands from his eyes.

"What? My daughter's body disgusts you that much Naruto?" Goza asked mischievously. And once again another argument ensued between the hotheaded teenagers.

"EH? NARUTO YOU JERK! I HAVE A GREAT BODY!"

"NANI? How am I the jerk? Just put some clothes on!"

"So it's true then!"

"NO! I MEAN, ARRGGHH! JUST PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

"NOT UNTIL YOU LOOK AT ME AND ADMIT I'M SEXY!"

Goza was rolling on the floor with laughter. This promised to be a fun festival.

Unbeknownst to our busy friends, there was a shadow lurking in the trees. "So the festival is here this year eh? You're not getting away from us this time," stated a voice as a wicked smile spread across their face.

**A/N: Done! Decided to take a different approach for their first C-rank. They'll still go to wave, but later! And don't worry, this won't be 'March of the OCs' because too many hurts the head ya know? But you'll meet a lot of people from Goza's shop, they'll make bit appearences here and there but nothing significant, ya know? Anyway, please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Hmm… well might as well start the story hm?This arc shouldn't be long, three chapters at most, mostly because I want to show you current power levels, do a little more character development and stuff like that. No one has yet to guess on the origins or species of Kiki and Echo yet, so no one gets a cyber cookie . **

**Also while I have you, should I up the rating or keep where its at?**

**Kiki: Up the rating! That way me and Naruto can *****giggles * well you know**

**Danasca: Kiki you disturb me sometimes… Remind me again why you're a pervert?**

**Kiki: Because I came from your mind?**

**Dana: Fair enough, now lets start the festival! **

Naruto yawned tiredly as he sat on his perch. Ever since they got there, Goza had worked everyone ragged to build the festival as soon as possible. Everything had been set up just a little before sunset and the very next day, Naruto and his team were once more awoken by Hito's explosion. This time it was to watch people, overlook the shops, watch for thieves, help people out, and so on. Basically, they had been working non-stop from dawn till, well to this point, which was maybe an hour or so after sunset? Bah, didn't matter, Naruto was just bummed he had to work alone.

"Gah, why the hell did this place have to be so big?" muttered the blonde as he leapt on top of a small banner. True enough, the entire festival could be comparable to the size of a small town. Filled to the brim with shops, attractions, rides, games and competitions and at the center of it all a gigantic circus tent. Truly, the size alone was mind bending and an attraction by itself, but it was the guests and employees that really grabbed the attention.

Since the employees made no move to hide their demonic or non-human like qualities, many people saw it as a chance to dress up in all manner of costumes. It was kind of like one big cosplay convention in that regard, or something Fredrick told him about once, some holiday from the old world called Halloween? "Who knew so many people would enjoy dressing up?" Naruto muttered as he scratched his nose. "Gotta admit though, it's kind of fun," grinned the blonde as he pulled a grinning fox mask on.

It had been Goza's rule that the ninja hide their headbands and wear a costume so as not to panic the customers, something Sasuke had protested against and Sakura just didn't like the idea at all. Something about not being a 'cosplaying hentai' or something like that. Kikioko had gotten angry with her for some reason when she said that.

In the end, both Sasuke and Sakura were forced to wear something because the majority of their team was for the idea. Naruto had gone with a mask styled in the form of a fox along with ears and tail, the fur matching his hair color. With the scythe and the orange armband with the black kanji for 'Guard' on it, Naruto was pretty sure people would behave with him around.

Seeing nothing happening, the blonde ran off to continue his patrol. "Hmm… the big show should start soon," he murmured, looking towards the circus tent. He scratched the back of his head. "Wonder what it'll be like," he muttered before leaping onto a speaker pole. As he did, he nearly died of fright due to the sudden activation of said speakers.

"Ahem!" coughed a voice over the speakers, "Attention all, the big top event will be taking place in the next thirty minutes! Have your money ready and remember, there is no reserved seating! You want a good seat, get over here fast!"

Immediately people rushed to the tent, if the street attractions were any indicator, the big top promised to be one hell of a show. Naruto sighed, more than likely he would have to stay outside and guard the place. However he heard a crackling noise in his earpiece, a radio Kakashi gave them for the job.

"Oi, Goza wants us to get to the big top," Kakashi's voice crackled in his ear.

"Eh? You sure sensei? I mean, wouldn't t make more sense to guard the outside?" Sakura stated through the link.

"Sakura has a point, someone could rob them if we all go inside," Sasuke stated into his mic.

"Ma, it's our job to protect the troupe, not the valuables. Besides, Kiki-chan is already there and Goza-san said he especially needs Naruto," drawled Kakashi.

"Eh? Me? Why does Pointy Ears need me?" Naruto demanded.

"Naruto! Respect the client!" Sakura scolded.

The blonde sighed. "Fine, but it better be worth it, ttebayo," Naruto muttered as he leapt off towards the tent.

**In the tent**

Kikioko took a deep breath as she waited. This would be her first time doing something like this, and with Naruto too! She was pretty sure he had never done something like this either.

Taking another deep breath, she desperately tried to calm her nerves; she could never remember a time when she was this anxious! _'This outfit doesn't exactly help either' _she grimaced looking over the outfit. Currently she was in a secluded area of the Big Top, open only to the troupe and those invited.

"Oi, Kiki-chan!" Goza called, appearing in her room and causing the girl to jump in fright. "Naruto is here, want me to send him or no?"

Kiki whirled around her face red, "Baka Tou-san! Don't scare me like that," Kiki scolded. "Wait, did you say Naruto's here?" she asked in near hysterics. Immediately the girl ran to the full-length mirror desperately checking her appearance and outfit. She quickly turned and started posing for her surrogate father, "Do you think he'll like this? Is my hair ok? What about my make-up?" she demanded.

"The only make-up you wear are those two red dots on the corners of your mouth," he deadpanned.

"That's not the point!" she shouted before crossing her arms and turning her head away, "I… I've never done this before… I figure if I do it with Naruto…" she mumbled, blushing as she did. "I'm, I'm kind of scared Tou-san," she admitted.

Goza smiled gently, "Heh, it's ok to be nervous, I was too you know," he assured her placing a comforting hand on her head. She looked at him with wide eyes, curiosity shining in them. He just laughed, "Truth is, everyone is nervous their first time be it a little, or be it a lot, but," here he grinned widely, "It's easier when done with someone close to you! I'm sure Naruto will be just as nervous but just that you'll both have a wonderful time when you finally get into it,"

With that, the goblin gave her one more pat on the head before leaving, "Oi! Naruto boya! Kiki-chan needs you so get moving!" he called. It didn't take long for Naruto to soon arrive in the back, however his vision was blocked due to the giant fox plushie in his hands.

"Heya Kiki-chan! Look what I found, its huge, dattebayo!" stated the blonde as he set the fox down, his foxy grin on his face and eyes closed. "So what did you need me for-" he was cut off because when he opened his eyes, Naruto froze at the sight before him.

What he saw before him, well, who knew nothing more than leotard could be so stunning? That's what Naruto thought, for Kiki was wearing nothing more than that, an outfit that was like a second skin, accenting and capturing every voluptuous curve. The slimming black piece of clothing perfectly complimented her red hair and lightly tanned skin.

For a while, the blonde just stared at her, fox plushie under one arm and his face frozen in a smiling form. Kiki stared at him, unsure of why he was like that, "Eh, Whiskers-kun, are you ok?" she asked walking towards him.

Seeing her move and hearing her talk, the boy immediately shook himself from his stupor and went ram rod straight, one hand scratching the back of his head while his eyes were closed. "S-Sorry Kiki-chan, didn't really expect to see you in something like that," he laughed nervously.

The Atezuiryo blinked before she smirked deviously at the blonde, "Oh? Well what do you think?" she questioned 'innocently', posing in front of the blonde.

Naruto blushed heavily before quickly turning away lest she see the blood trickling from his nose. Kiki giggled at his reaction, making a victory sign behind her back._ 'Another point for me in the game to win Naruto's heart'_ she thought happily.

Coughing, the blonde turned around again, "So how come you asked me to come here? And is there any reason as to why you're wearing that?" Naruto asked, staring at Kiki's face._ 'Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down'_ he repeated to himself.

Her smile vanished and a blush came over her face as Kiki crossed her arms and turned her head away shyly, "Ah, well, um, how do I put this?" she stuttered. Gulping nervously she finally took a deep breath and faced Naruto with a serious look.

"Naruto, will you be my partner tonight?"

Naruto stared at her, trying to figure out what she meant by that. _'Partner? What does she need a partner for?'_ he wondered. For a while he stood there with a blank expression, thinking things over._ 'Coming alone to a secluded area… She's wearing a single piece outfit, which does look good on her… And wants me to be her partner for tonight…'_ a couple more seconds passed, then Naruto's face turned tomato red and he desperately grabbed his nose to keep from dying of blood loss. "Gah! NO! Ero-Kiki, why would you ask me to do that? No way, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping the gun and, in doing so, causing unintended harm to Kikioko's heart.

The red-head took a step back as if physically struck. Tears formed in her eyes as she glared at the blonde, hurt and anger shining in them, "I figured you'd want to, but if the idea of performing with me is so repulsive you could have just said no!" she yelled.

That threw Naruto through a loop, "Wait, what do you mean by perform?" he asked stupidly, not realizing just how bad he'd screwed up.

"I mean perform!" Kiki snapped, turning away from him so he wouldn't see her tears, "I-I wa-was scared to perform in front of all those people…" she stuttered, her body shaking from restrained sobs, "I… I thought it'd be better if you were my partner, you know? Easier!" she sniffed and rubbed at her eyes with her arm. "But I was wrong! Whiskers doesn't care about me anymore," she stated, more to her self then anyone else, "Whiskers won't play with me, won't eat with me, won't tell me what's wrong, he doesn't want me, no one does," she sobbed.

Naruto stared at her, realization suddenly going off in his head, _'She's performing in the Big Top event… and she wanted me to perform with her, that's what she meant by partners,'_ Naruto thought with shame.

"**Yet Naru-kun no Hentai thought she meant something else,"** giggled Kyuubi,** "Silly girl should know that Naru-kun doesn't need her when he has me, someone who will never leave,"** she cooed as Naruto felt the phantom touch of hands caressing his body, As the phantom feeling continued, Naruto's eyes seemed to glaze over, darkening while he became oblivious to everything except the seductive voice and feather touches. **"Come on Naru-kun, lets leave this girl to wallow in her sadness while I show you what it means to be mine,"**

"Yours…" Naruto whispered, his body unconsciously moving away. However he stopped when he heard something, he had not heard for years.

Snapping out of his stupor, the blonde turned around his eyes wide and filled with guilt. There before him was a sight he had no desire to ever see again.

Kikioko Atezuiryo was crying.

Something Naruto had not seen for years, not since that storming night where everything changed. He moved without thinking then.

Kiki sat on the ground, hugging herself with head bowed, trying desperately to stop crying. _'Stop it! You should be used to this, they all leave sooner or later, but why does it hurt so much when he rejects me?'_ she thought. She was so deep in her thoughts that she did not notice his presence until his arms had wrapped around her in a tight embrace. Surprised, she looked out of the corner of her eyes to see nothing but blonde hair due to the fact her head was over Naruto's left shoulder.

"Kiki-chan, please stop crying," He whispered, "I overreacted, I didn't mean to make you cry so please," he tightened his hold, "Please stop crying," he pleaded. "Gomen ne, Kiki-chan, I… I'd love to perform with you if it means you'll be happy," Naruto finally stated softly.

Kikioko stopped crying and pulled away from the embrace just far enough that she could look into his blue eyes that shone with regret and shame. For while they stared into each others eyes, Kiki looking for even a speck of deception and Naruto conveying all his regret and sincerity through the simple eye contact.

Finally, Kiki gave a watery smile and grabbed Naruto in a tight embrace, her face buried in his chest. "Arigatou Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed, her muffled voice easily reaching Naruto's ears. The boy simply laughed and hugged her in return.

Unknown to both of them, Goza smiled from the shadows as he gazed upon the heart-warming scene. "Heh, I knew she'd be the one to break through," he murmured.

"She has not done anything yet," said a familiar, but distorted, voice. "Kyuubi still holds sway over Naruto,"

Goza frowned, "And beating him with a shovel will get him to admit he has a problem? If anything that will drive him further into her grasp, not more likely to come searching for help,"

With the sound of swishing wind, Echo materialized next to the green skinned goblin. The man sighed, "That's probably true," muttered the man, reaching into the front pocket of his sweatshirt and withdrawing a black bottle. Twisting the cap off the man took a whiff of the contents before sighing in content, taking a swig he let a small smile grace his features, "But I don't exactly converse with a lot of people anymore," Echo stated carelessly.

Goza looked at him sadly, "That's actually very sad Echo," he stated, "Are you really content with just fading into the background?"

Echo shrugged, "I'm the remnant of a voice long since dead, my existence is nothing more than reverberations of that voice, of that sound, so to call myself something other that would be to say I'm not such a thing," he took another drink, "An echo is what I am, nothing more, nothing less," he finished, eyes half lidded.

Goza sighed, "If that makes you happy then carry on with your lonely existence, but is there any reason you came here other than to check on Naruto?" asked the merchant.

Echo's face grew serious at this, "There's going to be death here soon,"

Goza stopped walking and turned to Echo, alarm in his yellow eyes, seeing this Echo waved his free hand dismissively, "I'm only here to protect and bury, besides I want to see how powerful this group is," he stated and with his piece finished, the blonde man slowly dissolved into grey smoke.

Goza sighed before walking away a smile making its way over his face, "Oh well, nows not the time for that," snapping his fingers, a ringmaster's uniform appeared on Goza's body, complete with top hat.

"Now I have a show to put on!" he exclaimed as with another snap of his clawed hands, the goblin vanished in a poof of smoke.

**Inside the Big Top, audience seats**

"Wow! This place is packed!" Sakura stated staring in awe from the top seat where she was seated. Like her teammates she too had a mask, but it was a black eye mask with pink bunny ears. She figured she might as well look cute if she had to wear a costume.

"Mm, but remember to keep on guard Sakura-chan, we're here on a job," Kakashi stated. The man didn't really need to change his look. He merely removed his headband and wore an eye patch while a black cloak covered his ninja garb. He still had the facemask on and in addition he had dyed his silver hair black as an extra precaution.

Seeing Sakura's somewhat ashamed look he smiled, "That doesn't mean we can't enjoy the show though," Kakashi happily pointed out. Sakura immediately grew bright and nodded in agreement. Turning to look at their last member Kakashi gave an eye smile, "The same goes for you Sasuke-kun, relax a bit ne?"

"Hn," was the raven-haired boy's response. The boy had decided to wear a simple black hoodie with his regular pants and a raven mask. Currently the hood was up and the Uchiha was watching vigilantly for any threats. At the moment, everyone in the dim light was anxiously awaiting the start of the show._ 'I can't let my guard down for a moment'_ the boy thought as he watched the large area. The ring was forty two feet in diameter so it was somewhat hard to see across the ring to the audience seated on the other side, but Sasuke was from a clan known for their eyes, so his vision was better than most.

The crowd continued to chatter, but -for an instant-, a hush fell over the crowd as the lights dimmed. An excited atmosphere filled the air as the people began whispering in anxious tones.

"Ladies and gentleman!" announced a voice that the three ninja instantly recognized as Goza's, "Monsters, spirits and creatures of every age!" an explosion of smoke appeared in the middle of the of the ring. When it cleared it showed Goza standing on a small stand, garbed in the stereotypical outfit of a ringmaster and looking quite happy in the spotlight that glinted off his pearly teeth "Welcome, to the first Big Top show in our three day festival!" he announced happily. The crowd erupted into applause and Goza grinned. Next to money and his employees, this was the best thing in the world. "Tonight, you will be dazzled, dumbstruck, and perhaps even disturbed by my performers!" Goza announced, much to the crowd's excitement, "My question is, are you ready?"

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Goza smirked, "Are you sure? Are you ready to be entertained?" he asked, a gloved hand to his pointy ear. More cheers and claps greeted his question, "Are you ready to be amazed?" he asked. The crowd nearly shattered his eardrums with their response.

"Are you ready to be terrified!" he shouted. No sooner had he finished than the people were screaming their heads off, proclaiming to start the show.

Laughing the goblin began shouting so as to be heard over the crowd, "Then we shall begin! I, Goza, shall be your ringmaster and our first performer comes from places of unknown," he said mysteriously, "He is known to converse with the dead and see the future," he proclaimed, "He is a mystic with powers no mortal can comprehend!"

The crowd was on the edge of their seats, "Please help me welcome the magic man, Tetsol!"

On queue, purple smoke seemed to come together in a small vortex in front of Goza before disappearing in a brilliant flash, leaving behind a figure in gaudy robes of silver and blue.

The figures face could not be seen due to a hood, and the long robe covered his hands and feet. Another thing was that the man was hovering a foot off the ground! This promised to be interesting.

Tetsol spoke no words as he slowly lifted his arms. There was silence as Tetsol remained still as a statue. Slowly, something started to form in front of the robed man's, a small orb of blue light appeared on his right, while an orb of yellow appeared on his left. Lastly, a red orb appeared above his head.

The people stared in awe of the orbs and watched, enraptured as the orbs slowly rose in a triangle pattern a good ten feet into the air. Then the triangle began to spin in a clockwise motion, slowly at first, and then it started to speed up.

Mesmerized the people watched as the balls of energy spun faster and faster, small tails of their respective color being left in their wake like the tail of a comet. Faster and faster the orbs spun until the orbs colors began to mix!

Now greens, oranges and violets could be seen as a circle of rainbow light began to form as the orbs spun faster and faster. With a wave of a hand two more orbs, these colored white and black, appeared in front of Tetsol. With a sweep upwards, the black and white spheres joined the spinning halo of color.

Soon, the entire spectrum of visible colors could be seen in that circle. All manners of hues and tones ranging from, from a shining gold to the blackest obsidian, every color was present. The audience was entranced and made noises of awe and amazement and gasped when two more circles of light separated from the first, now creating three spinning circles of light. Then two more rainbow circles divided from the recently made ones.

There were now seven dazzling circles of rainbow light, but Tetsol did not stop there slowly he began waving his arms and the circles immediately began to come together, creating a sphere of multi-colored light. Tetsol brought his covered hands together, keeping them about half a foot apart.

Slowly the mystic pulled his hands away from each other and the sphere of light slowly became longer and more oval shaped. The people watched in awe as Tetsol manipulated the shape of the oval, slowly forming it into some obviously complex shape. The audience murmured among themselves, excited and curious as to what the mage was creating, but there wonder was put to rest when the figure was finally created.

It was a serpentine creature with four clawed feet and one row of spines going from the back of the neck to the tip of the tail. At the moment, it was a mostly white figure with pulses of color dotting its body. Needless to say, the sight awed everyone; even Sasuke had broken from his vigil to gape at the creation.

However, Tetsol was not yet done. Slowly, Tetsol began to speak, his voice a whisper but it thrummed with such power that all could hear him. He whispered but one word **"Vivere (Live)"**

The colors in the dragon seemed to pulse then slowly areas of the dragon began to fill in with specific colors. The scales became a wondrous green and the spines a shiny red. The underbelly was painted a pale yellow, as the claws were colored black as ink. Finally the eyes blazed to life with a red glow.

The dragon gave a mighty roar, belching fire and snaking through the air it put on a marvelous display. The people cheered and screamed in appreciation and continued to do so when the dragon exploded into a million shining specks of light with Tetsol nowhere to be found. Instead a boisterously laughing Goza could be seen.

"Hahahaha! That man never ceases to put on a good show!" he exclaimed, "Now for our next act, some of you may want to scream or run in fear but rest assured, nothing shall harm you!" Goza warned his grin becoming scary.

The lights were shut off completely, much to the surprise and even fright of the audience. A single flashlight came on, Illuminating Goza's face in a creepy manor, "The person I am about to introduce comes from a place where terror and screams abound," Goza started in a creepy voice, "Where monsters make their homes and the undead walk!" Sakura felt her heart race increase a bit as she continued to listen, "A place! Where sunlight never touches and the wind chills to the very bone!"

The audience shuddered in anticipation as Goza continued, "From the Land of Horror, I introduce to you the father of fear, the king of creeps!" the lights died completely as someone's mad laughter filled the room.

"Scream my little playthings! For you are now the unwilling toys of me!" cackled a voice filled with what only be called the very essence of fear. There was a flash of lightning that illuminated the ring and revealed a tall and strange creature.

He was extremely tall, easily seven feet tall and so skinny that turned sideways he could easily hide behind a pole. On his head was a green top hat decorated with small skulls and tattered black lace while greasy and untamable black hair tumbled past his shoulders. He wore an open black trench coat that seemed more like a straitjacket with matching pinstripe black pants. For a shirt it was a sking tight muscle shirt that stopped just above his practically non-existent stomach. His shoes were black but the tips curved back somewhat like the shoes you'd find on a jester.

His skin was paler than moonlight and his yellow fingernails were sharpened to a point that reached an inch past the tips of his fingers. Lastly his face was just as pale as the rest of his skin but it was sharp with high cheekbones and angled jaw-line and pointed chin. Black rings were under his onyx eyes that brimmed with madness. "My name is Damian, Damian P. Manson," the man said with an extravagant bow.

"Now who wants to… volunteer?" he asked, a grin cracking his face, showing off his crooked teeth. No one said anything.

"Then how about you my dear?" Damian asked in Sakura's ear. The pinkette jumped in surprise and whirled around to see the tall man grinning at her, crouched down and balancing on his toes on the back of her seat, "Surely a sweet young thing such as you would make delightful screams!" he cackled, his hands reaching for her.

Sakura squealed in fright, quickly hiding behind Sasuke. However Damian had vanished. Confused Sakura looked around, as did the others nearby. _'Where did he?'_

"Course," Everyone snapped their heads up to see the tall man sitting on the landing for trapeze artists, his legs dangling over the edge with a noose around his neck. "Perhaps the best way to get some screams is with a little suicide!," he proclaimed pushing himself off the platform.

The people gasped and some screamed in fear as the madman plummeted to the earth cackling all the way. The rope suddenly went taunt, causing Damian's body to bounce several times before it finally stopped and swayed side to side. The people were shocked as they murmured to each other, a few even made to try and see if he was really dead.

"Then again, killing myself is pointless!" Damian announced, head snapping up so everyone could see his manic smile. A good portion jerked back in their seats as if visibly struck. "I mean you could cut my head off and I still wouldn't die," he declared.

Reaching into his trench coat the man withdrew a bloody butcher's knife. With a single swipe, the man decapitated himself, the body falling to the ground with blood spurting from the neck with the head soon following after.

Some women and children screamed in fear at the sight, but were stunned into silence when the body's hand caught the head upside down, the head still inside the decorated top hat. "Like I said, there's no point!" cackled the man as he replaced his head back on his body, the neck still seeping blood. "Now that you're all well and truly," here he giggled, "Disturbed, let's start this show!"

With that declaration the man threw his hat into the air and from it exploded a something very few people had ever seen. For one it was huge! With pipes of all manner of size coming from what appeared to be a piano. The pipes were an eerie bronze while the keys were creepily pristine in condition. "Try not to die of fright," Manson giggled, twisting his head a full one eighty degrees to see the audience. Laughing the man cracked his knuckles and slammed his hands on the keys, flooding the area with sound! He began to play, a strange melody that sent shivers down peoples' spines as a fog slowly filled the air. Slowly the fog took a shape, one of a graveyard with a full moon and behind it was a creepy town of sorts.

As the music picked up in volume, shadows of creatures started to form on the tombstones and markers, singing in eerie and spooky voices. The audience, even the ninjas, felt captivated by the melody and were unable to look away.

"_Boys and girls of every age_

_Wouldn't you like to see something strange?"_

"_Come with us and you will see,_

_This our town of Halloween!"_

Several ghoulishly grinning jack-o-lanterns then appeared and flew over the crowd before combing back together and spearing themselves on the spiked fence that bordered the graveyard all while singing

"_This is Halloween. This is Halloween_

_Pumpkins scream in the dead of night"_

True to words, the pumpkins screamed like banshees and launched themselves at the audience before exploding. Next ghosts filled the tent and flew through the air, reaching towards the audience with ghastly hands that seemed to steal the warmth from a person's body when they neared. Like the pumpkins before them, they began singing.

"_This is Halloween, everybody make a scene_

_Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright_

_It's our town, everybody scream_

_In this town of Halloween"_

The ghosts then seemed to disappear as the scenery changed to that of a house, a bedroom with a steel bunk bed to be exact. Somehow, the underside of the bed seemed to draw in everyone's attention and some yelped in fright when glowing red eyes and razor sharp teeth made themselves present. In a craggily voice it sang.

"_I am the one hiding under your bed_

_Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red"_

Once again the scene changed. This time to a staircase colored gray and with shadows everywhere. However something came slithering out from under them followed by billions of spiders that ran into the audience, scurrying over people who were yelping in surprise and fright at the tickling sensation of tiny legs crawling over them. People could barely make out the figure of a large creature with long greasy hair and strange hissing fingers.

"_I am the one hiding under yours stairs_

_Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair"_

Then it was like the audience traveled up the stares away from the creature only to find a room with four coffins.

"_This is Halloween, this is Halloween"_

From the coffin burst forth four vampires, their fangs dripping blood and nails sharper than razors.

"_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_

_In this town we call home_

_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song"_

The vampires flew, painting eyeryone's vision black for a spell. When it cleared it showed a strange figure shaped like some bulbous triangle whose head spun on it's shoulders, revealing both a smiling and overly friendly face and an utterly hopeless and sorrowed face.

"_In this town, don't we love it now?_

_Everybody's waiting for the next surprise!"_

The scene changed to follow a small black cat that was wondering down an alleyway. It stopped on top of a trashcan next to a wooden door and sewergrate. It stopped to clean itself, uncaring for the verses that disembodied voices sang.

"_Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can_

_Something's waiting no to pounce, and how you'll..."_

A terrifying creature with wiry hair and a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth popped out from the trashcan that the cat was sitting atop, terrifying the cat as it sang, soon accompanied by a werewolf that crashed through the wooden door and a melting green man that burst from the sewers.

"_Scream! This is Halloween_

_Red 'n' black, slimy green"_

"_Aren't you scared?"_

Asked the wolf man in a growl while two witches flew by him, one a stereotypical hag and the other a one eyed frog woman. They flew into the sewer singing as the scenery followed them.

"_Well, that's just fine_

_Say it once, say it twice_

_Take a chance and roll the dice_

_Ride with the moon in the dead of night"_

Popping out from a well, the focus switched to a walking and singing tree, the skeletons of hanged man swinging from its boughs.

"_Everybody scream, everybody scream"_

People nearly jumped out of their seats when the skeletons sang next.

"_In our town of Halloween!"_

The background went black as a creepy clown came in, riding a unicycle singing in a scratchy voice.

"_I am the clown with the tear-away face_

_Here in a flash and gone without a trace"_

No sooner had the clone ripped off its face- scaring the soul out of most every person in the stands- then did it vanish in a poof of smoke, leaving behind a yellow full moon with a cold wind sending chills down peoples' spines. A disembodied voice then sang,

"_I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"_

_I am the wind blowing through your hair"_

A ghoulish shadow appeared on the moon and like every other creature started to sing.

"_I am the shadow on the moon at night_

_Filling your dreams to the brim with fright"_

The shadow dissolved into bats that sang the next chorus

"_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_

_Halloween! Halloween!"_

The scene changed to two zombie children playing with a guillotine. They began as soon as the blade came down, turning a pumpkin into various lumps and slush.

"_Tender lumplings everywhere_

_Life's no fun without a good scare"_

What could only be the parents of these undead children then walked onto the scene, gathering the two up as they walked towards the square, where a seeming parade was about to take place.

"_That's our job, but we're not mean_

_In our town of Halloween"_

The two faced creature once again appeared, leading a horse with a pumpkin headed scarecrow on the back down the streets.

"_In this town"_

"_Don't we love it now?"_

All manner of creatures lined the streets all singing as the scarecrow came to life, dancing on the horse's back. It reached down, grabbing a torch and devouring it, setting himself on fire in the process.

"_Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back_

_And scream like a banshee_

_Make you jump out of your skin_

_This is Halloween, everyone scream_

_Wont' ya please make way for a very special guy"_

"_Our man jack is King of the Pumpkin patch_

_Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King"_

"_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!"_

The parade lead back to the square, a fountain with glowing green water at the center. The flaming scarecrow into the water dousing itself. Two children, one wrapped up like a mummy and the other bulbous with sewed shut eyes, eagerly ran to the wells edge and looked inside.

"_In this town we call home_

_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song"_

A figure then started to emerge from the fountain, a skeleton wearing a pinstripe suit that was as tall, if not taller than the man who started this entire macabre musical.

"_La la-la la, Halloween! Halloween!"_

The creatures all sang, the music and their haunting tones fading with the scenery. It all seemed to be sucked into the green hat Damian had removed from his head and now held in his hand. With the last few chords, both the tall madman and the organ were sucked into the hat as well, mad laughter echoing through the hair as the top hat spun and blinked out of existence.

For a moment the audience stayed in stunned silence then they erupted into cheers as Goza appeared once more in the spotlight upon his stand. "Haha! Theres plenty more where that came from folks!" announced the boisterous ringmaster.

True to his word, there were several more acts, all of them exciting and fun to watch. Ranging from stunts to clowns to even simple sketches, the people cheered themselves hoarse.

"This is amazing!" Sakura cheered, "I can't believe Naruto-baka and Kikioko missed this!"

Sasuke merely grunted, "The dobe and her are probably guarding the troupe or patrolling the area," he dismissed. "That or they're messing around somewhere," he added as an afterthought.

Kakashi gave a perverted giggle at that. Ignoring the disturbed and somewhat angry looks from his students the masked man merely waved off their concerns, "I'm sure that the two of them are fine," he drawled lazily, "Now be quiet, it seems they're ready to start the final act," Kakashi pointed out.

Goza had once more taken his spot in the spotlight, "Well ladies and gentlemen, tonight has been delightful! Sadly, we only have one more act for you before we must bid you goodnight," Goza proclaimed, "This will be their first time performing tonight, but this promises to be quite the show indeed!"

"Please help me welcome a woman without fear, a femme fatale, the veritable Mistress of Knives!" people grew excited as a spotlight shined on one of the acrobat platforms that were on the support poles.

In the spotlight was a woman with red head that went to her shoulders and covered her right eye. She was wearing a black leotard with a brown harness and belt full of knives. She had on a pair of black, high-heeled boots, the heels shaped in the form of knives. Finishing her look was a orange face mask somewhat in the form of a vixen's eyes.

She leapt off the platform, doing several flips as she came down.

The audience gasped, but cheered in amazement when she threw a knife into the ground and landed on the handle, balancing on the tips of her toes like a ballerina. She did a quick cartwheel to right herself, picking up the knife in the progress. Giving a bow, Goza introduced her, "My daughter, Kikioko Atezuiryo!"

The crowd cheered in amazement, two genin did not though. They were too busy trying to figure out just how their teammate got involved in the show!

"Well that explains where Kiki has been," Kakashi commented amusedly. Looking to the other pole he smirked, "And that explains where Naruto is," at his students' questioning stares he merely pointed lazily to the other pole.

"And please welcome her partner, the fantastic fox, a top class trickster, the one and only Shinigami Kitsune!" Goza announced, pointing his arm to the opposite pole.

On top of its platform was a man wearing an orange hakama and white kosode, a blonde foxtail emerging from the base of his spine with matching ears appearing from his spiky blonde hair. An ornate fox mask covered his face, it being white with red decals and in his hand was a large scythe.

The fox dressed man leapt off his perch just like Kiki did, but instead of a flip he began spinning his scythe at incredible speeds. With a _'shink' _the blade landed in the ground, with the fox perched on the handle in a crouch. "Please welcome the one and only, Naruto Uzumaki!"

The crowd erupted into cheers as the blond man gave an energetic wave. His teammates were amazed and slack jawed at the new development. Kakashi could only chuckle. _'Sensei, if you could see Naruto now'_ he thought wistfully. Smiling neath his mask, Kakashi settled in to watch the show.

"Tonight, my daughter shall showcase her amazing knife skills while the fox boy here," Naruto's 'tail' wagged in excitement, "Will be playing the part of target," Naruto immediately stiffened. Glancing from the knife wielder to the ringmaster, he started to slowly inch away. The audience chuckled at that, which ultimately gave the blond away.

Goza turned to look at him only to see the fox man grab his scythe and make a run for it. "Oi! Get back here!" he shouted, giving chase. The audience laughed as the fox ran from the demon in. Naruto ran past the pole only to give a startled yelp when something caught the back of his kosode and pinned him to the wooden structure.

For a minute, the fox flailed about, trying to dislodge himself from his predicament, much to the amusement of the audience. Giving up the man crossed his arms and seemed to pout as he hung there. Kiki giggled as she twirled a knife in her hand. Goza chuckled as he spoke once more, "How about that for fox catching?" he joked. The audience laughed and applauded the girl's skills. "Now, how about you two show us just what you can do with those knives and scythe," Goza offered, the people cheering them on to do so.

Kiki giggled before freeing Naruto. She knelt next to him and held a quick whispered conversation with him, "You sure about this Whiskers?" she asked nervously, "We only practiced for a couple of hours and I don't want you to-,"

"I trust you Kiki-chan," Naruto interrupted her warmly. She looked through the eye holes of his mask to see his blue eyes brimming with encouragement. Smiling, the red head pulled him up and the two began their performance.

The audience watched in amazement as Kiki did all sorts of things with the weapons. From juggling five of them in each hand to nailing seven bullseyes blindfolded, the girl did everything! She even made it to the top of one of the trapeze landings on the poles using them, but not in the way you may think.

Instead of using them to simply pull herself up, she used the knives as launching points! She would throw it into the pole, leap off the handle, then use another to stab into it, spinning herself on the handle, launching herself higher until she reached the platform.

Naruto acted as the comedic assistant, dodging the knives, tossing up fruits and other things for her to hit. He even put an apple on his head, blindfolded himself while he smoked a cigarette with the mask still on. At one point, a woman in the audience asked to see his face, which was encouraged by a good portion of the rest of the crowd. The two had made a big show of it, with Naruto running away while Kiki tried to take it off. In the end she slashed it off with Naruto's own scythe only to reveal him wearing another mask, this one was yellow with a big grin showing off pearly white teeth and two X's for eyes.

All in all, the crowd loved the two, and they were all waiting on pins and needles for their final act, one truly deadly one.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, for their final act, my daughter shall walk across the tightrope," Goza declared, gesturing to the length of rope stretched taunt between the two poles, which was over two hundred feet in the air. "However! What makes this seemingly played out act interesting is the fact that instead of a net, the ground below will be littered with blades of all kinds!" declared the goblin. True to his word, knives, swords, spears and all manner of sharp and pointy weapons were placed below the tightrope area, all of them pointed upwards, waiting to impale anyone who should fall from the dizzying height of the tightrope.

The audience gasped in fear and awe as Goza continued, "Kiki will also be balancing a knife by their points on each finger!" he announced.

True to word, the red headed knife thrower was already balanced on the rope, ten knives being balanced on her fingers, one for each digit. The audience gaped at the danger that the girl was putting herself in, but they had to admit, it was a hell of an act.

"Do not worry folks, our very own Naruto Uzumaki is here to prevent the worst from happening," Goza reassured as he pointed to an intensely alert fox boy. "Now, are you ready Kikioko?" called the demonic ringmaster. She gave a curt nod, eyes forward and focused. "Are you ready Naruto?" he asked. The fox man gave him a thumb up, not taking his eyes off Kiki. "Then begin!" shouted the goblin.

Immediately, Kiki gave a short hop and was on the rope, taking slow and careful steps, her arms and fingers perfectly till as she balanced the blades on her fingers. Her face was a mask of utter concentration, her mind blank of everything except for the task at hand. Step by step she made her way across, not once faltering in her stride across the tight rope. The knives wobbled a bit, but a quick twitch of a finger and a short burst of chakra kept them from falling. If even one fell, her balance would be upset and she would definitely fall.

Naruto watched with tensed muscles as his best friend continued to walk. He was completely focused on her, something a certain vixen did not take kindly to. **"Naru-kun, this will only make it hurt more when something happens,"** she warned the blond, her voice betraying nothing, but concern and affection for the teenager.

'_I know, I know, but Kiki-chan… it's just feels wrong to completely abandon her…'_ he replied, images of her crying entering his head, _'And I promised I'd be her friend till the end! And I refuse to ever go back on a promise!'_ he declared.

"**But what about me?" **she asked quietly, **"You promised me you'd push them away, because we don't want to hurt them, aren't you breaking a promise by doing this?"** she questioned.

Naruto frowned at that. Was he breaking a promise? He did say he wouldn't let people close to protect them, but he promised to be Kiki's friend to the end long before he met Kyuubi. He frowned, thinking to himself before a light bulb went off in his head, _'Ah! This isn't anything Kyuu-chan, there are people who aren't close to each other but they're still friends right?_' he asked.

"**Well that is true but-,"**

'_Then there's nothing to worry about! I can still be Kiki's friend without us getting too close; I can keep both my promises!'_ Naruto thought happily. To him it was so simple! He just had to keep Kiki from getting too close and keep from telling her anything that was personal and stuff.

Stupid, stupid, Naruto.

Kyuubi said nothing in return, but if Naruto could see her, he'd see she was beyond furious. _**'You're mine Naruto, I won't let anyone interfere, not Echo, not 'them', and definitely not that red haired brat!'**_ she mentally growled.

Naruto ignored the angry demon inside him, instead focusing on Kiki. She had met it a little more than halfway across and seemed to be doing quite well. Kiki was inwardly cheering as she kept going. _'Yes! Almost there!'_ she thought. However, in the midst of her celebration, someone decided that she would not be reaching the end. Whether it was a vengeful demoness, a bored divinity looking for entertainment or some other being is unclear, but it happened all the same.

A knife, precariously balanced on Kikioko's left pinky, fell from its tedious perch and slowly plummeted towards the ground. Time seemed to slow down as every eye was fixated upon that simple dagger.

Handle over knifepoint it fell to the ground before finally clattering on the ground, breaking the silence that filled the air. Kiki could only stare in horror,_ 'I… dropped one?'_ she thought. That's when she felt herself start to fall.

She started to fall, teetering to the right. A knee jerk reaction occurred as she quickly tried to right herself, dropping her knives in the process, but all it did was delay the inevitable.

With a cry, she fell from the rope and towards the waiting bloodthirsty blades. The watching people gasped and some began to scream, mothers covered their children's eyes. All the while, Naruto could only stare in horror.

He tried to move, to catch her yet his body would not budge! _'Move, move, move! Need to move!'_ he screamed at himself. Images of him and Kiki started to flash through his mind. He needed to move, to catch her, but something held the teenager back.

'_Friends till the end?'_ asked Kiki's voice. Naruto stopped trying to help her then. If the red head fell and impaled herself, then it would be the end.

Yes… yes if she died, then he could keep both of his promises! He'd be a friend with Kiki till the end and he wouldn't get close to her! It's hard to get close to a dead person, right? So all he had to do was just let her fall and then…

Kiki had shut her eyes, mind blank as she plummeted to her doom. She knew this stunt was dangerous, but her faith in Naruto had led her to go through with it. Goza had even asked her not to do it, even begged her to use chakra if she was going to.

Kiki just said she trusted Naruto.

…

And she was right to do so.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, realizing that she had stopped falling and was actually being… cradled? She opened her eyes fully to see the masked face of Naruto Uzumaki. She stared at him in shock before looking down to see just where they were.

Naruto had somehow got his body moving again and leapt to catch her. However, his leap was not far enough to clear the blades so he did the next best thing, which was to create a landing spot.

By quickly turning his scythe into a spear, the blond stabbed it into the ground and leapt atop the pole, all as he caught the red haired woman. All in all, it was quite an impressive feat.

"You alright Kiki-chan?" Naruto asked the stunned girl in his arms. She stared at him for a moment, before quickly latching onto the blonde, arms wrapped around his neck as she buried her face into his chest. He could only laugh as Kikioko mumbled thank you over and over again. Behind them, the audience erupted into cheers, all praising the heart-thumping conclusion of the first night.

**In the woods, just outside of the festival grounds**

A small figure scurried through the forest underbrush. The figure wore a nondescript tattered robe of grey and simple black shorts. It had no shoes to speak of, but bandages wrapped around its feet. Soon the figure was illuminated by a local campfire, revealing it to be a filthy and ratty looking man, a sword at his side and his very physique screaming 'bandit', but the people who had made the campfire paid him no heed for they too were bandits.

The rat man had entered a camp of bandits, a large one filled with all sorts of unsavory characters. The small man paid no heed to the various thieves, murders and highwaymen he passed on his way to a large red tent.

Rushing in, the bandit spoke, "Boss, I'm back!" he proclaimed.

"I can see that dumbass," drawled a male voice in reply. The voice belonged to a rather large man, whose skin deeply tanned skin was littered with scars and rippling with muscle. His eyes were black and shone with malice. He wore a filthy brown vest with matching bracers on each of his wrists and black pants that were tucked into equally black boots. "So you figure out what we're dealing with yet? Or do I have to make an example of what happens to people who forget their duties?" he growled.

The rat man gulped before laughing nervously, "Ahaha… No need for that Khan-sama, I did what you asked!" he assured. The large man merely grunted and waved for him to continue. Coughing nervously the bandit began speaking, "Right, well, I went to the fair like ya said and the place seems to be even busier than last time!"

The big man smiled at that, "Heh, bet that pudgy little freak is raking in the cash, all the better for us," he chuckled, "Now what have we got to worry about in terms of security?" he demanded.

Gulping, the scout chuckled, "Well, it doesn't seem like security has changed much at all," he answered, "But there were some, uh, new people there, I think they're some newly hired guards or something,"

"How many? What did they look like? Anything special I should know about them?" barked Khan.

"Ah! Um, well, there was five of em, two sweet looking babes, two teenage brats and a big guy with weird spiky black hair," The scout scratched his hair, "When I saw em, one of those teenagers was dressed up like some weird fox, he has this spiky blonde hair and carries around a big ass scythe,"

Khan grunted at that, but kept silent, "Then one of those babes has somme pretty red hair that covers on of her eyes, she's pretty damn good with knives and really, fu fu fu, flexible," described the bandit with a perverted chuckle, "The other girl was wearing bunny ears and a black facemask along with a red battle dress and some tight bike shorts. Oh! She's also got long, pink hair!"

"Pink?" Khan asked disbelievingly. The scout nodded, "I didn't get to see her use any skills, same for the other teenage brat and the bigger guy. The other teenager was wearing a black hoodie, along with a sword strapped across his back,"

"And the big guy?" demanded Kahn.

The scout shrugged, "Has most o' his mug covered and big black hair, can't really miss him," Kahn mulled over the information, "Oh! One more thing boss!" the giant frowned, but didn't say anything, "They may be trained like those shinobi in the village so we might wanna be careful considering what we know about this group,"

Khan nodded before smiling, "Heh, now things are interestin," he grunted before strutting outside, the little bandit following closely behind, "Get the boys ready, we're gonna be visiting those bastards pretty soon,"

"Right boss! When are we going?" asked the man excitedly.

Khan smirked as he continued walking, "You'll know soon enough, just tell the boys to get ready," the scout nodded and rushed off.

"No one escapes the Genghis Gang twice," Khan chuckled as he lumbered back to his tent.

**A/N: Finito! Ah good chapter I feel, next chapter should have more action, might actually just finish this arc there. **

**Now… PLEASE REVIEW! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THATS HOLY PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Ahem, sorry, but I'd like to get some feedback on this story.**

**Ja ne!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Been a while since I've updated this thing, but that's more my fault than anything I guess. Anyway, lets finish up this little side mission and get back on track to the real fun!**

Kiki sat in her dressing room, still stunned by the events of what had happened not even an hour ago. _'Naruto saved me… and I kissed him!'_ she mentally squealed, her face blushing red.

Perhaps some explanation is needed.

_**Flashback, one hour earlier**_

Kiki had finally stopped thanking Naruto but she had refused to be put down, instead preferring the blond's arms. So Naruto carefully hopped down from his perch and with a large grin under his mask, had bowed to the audience, Kiki still securely held in his arms.

The crowd went nuts and soon a chant began to fill the air. Naruto was unsure, but he could have sworn that it was Kakashi who had started the chant. It didn't matter because the entire audience took it up immediately. It was a simple chant, consisting of but one word. What was the word?

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" demanded the crowd, causing both teens to turn scarlet from embarrassment. Before Naruto could scream out a protest, he felt his mask being quickly taken from his face and then a feather soft touch graced his right cheek. Naruto just stood there frozen, his eyes wide and face red. As for Kiki, she merely giggled, stepped out of his arms and placed the mask back on the still frozen Naruto's face. The crowd went nuts of course and Naruto remained there even after the last person had left the tent.

_**End Flashback**_

'_I wonder if he's still standing there'_ Kiki thought with a smile. Giggling she made her way over her bed and sat down. Smiling, she grabbed the large fox plushie that Naruto had brought and hugged it to her chest. "This was the best show ever!" she sighed happily, falling on her back, fox still in her arms.

"It was an interesting show," said a bored voice, causing Kikioko to stand up quickly. She blinked at the person in front of her, for it was none other than Kakashi Hatake with his infamous pornographic novel in hand. "Yo," he greeted.

"Yo yourself Sensei," Kiki greeted back, "How'd you like the show? Or were you just reading porn the entire time?" she asked.

Ignoring her jab at his hobbie, the masked man flipped a page and replied, "It was… well to be honest it was amazing,"

"Really?" asked the redhead, her eyes shining with happiness.

"At least the parts I watched were amazing," his response caused the girl to facefault. Before Kiki could chew him out Kakashi continued, "I just came by to tell you good job and to give you something,"

Kiki paused in surprise, '_A gift?'_ "What do you mean?" she asked, head tilted to the side in curiosity. His response was to toss a scroll at her. Blinking she stared at it then she grinned, "Arigatou sensei!" she said happily with a bow. Kakashi merely offered her a wave and left, nose still buried in his orange book.

Opening the scroll, Kiki let grin come to her face, "Oh, this is going to be fun!" she declared.

**In the big tent, main ring**

Echo sighed as he stared at his 'student'. The blond had been frozen stiff ever since Kiki kissed his cheek. _'I've heard of being stupefied before, but this is just ridiculous!'_ he thought. Walking up to the boy, the messy haired man started to snap his fingers in front of the blonde's face, "Oi! Time to wake up!" he barked, trying to gain the boy's attention. Naruto just stood there, still frozen. Echo frowned at that, "Come on, it's not like you came face to face with Medusa is it?" he snapped, prodding the boy's arm.

Naruto was still frozen stiff.

Frowning, the man pulled his gun out and pointed it over Naruto's shoulder, the barrel right next to his ear.

BANG

The Uzumaki didn't even twitch.

Echo scowled, "If I have to kiss him to get him out of this I'm going to be pissed," he grumbled. Instead of doing a montage of different ways to try and wake him, the stoic man reached over his shoulder and withdrew his shovel.

Walking to stand next to the stiff teenager Echo faced the blond and twirled the shovel in his hands a few times, "Time to go for broke," he muttered gripping the shovel firmly in both hands and rearing it back to swing, "Or broken nose in this case," and with that, the man swung the common tool forward and smacked Naruto square in the face with the head of the shovel, the result was a loud and sickening 'crack!'

Bringing the shovel away, Echo watched as the fox mask slowly fell off his pupil's face and onto the floor in a dozen shattered pieces. Looking back at the blond he was surprised to see that, despite his now bleeding and broken nose, Naruto was still frozen in place. Gaping at the sight, Echo just palmed his face, "What do I have to do? Have Kiki get in a bikini and serve him ramen?" he muttered.

That got a reaction out of Naruto.

"Kiki? Ramen? Bikini? WHERE!" shouted the blond, snapped out of his stupor and now looking wildly for the image described. Blinking after not finding it, Naruto did something he should have done a couple of seconds ago.

"Gah! My nose! My nose! What the hell happened to my nose?" he shouted grabbing said body part in pain. He stopped when he noticed that he wasn't alone. Frowning, the Uzumaki glared at the man "What the hell are you doing here?" he nearly growled. At least then he didn't have to wonder who hit him.

Echo sighed and averted his eyes to the ground, "Look Naruto, I came for a couple of reasons," he started, scuffing the ground with his shoe, avoiding eye contact with the blond, "The first being… I'm sorry…"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that, "Come again?" he asked.

Echo rolled his eyes and finally made eye contact with his student, "I mean I'm sorry for what I did back in Konoha," he said, his eyes conveying his sincerity to the boy, "It's just that it's been so long since I've actually talked with other humans and the Kyuubi-" he snapped his jaw shut at that, but the pained and faraway look did not escape Naruto's notice, "but that's no excuse for my behavior and so I've come to apologize and to do so, I've decided it's time I taught you the Shinigami signature move,"

At this Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. He knew what Echo was talking about and the idea of finally learning it both excited and frightened him. "Do you mean…" he trailed off,"

Echo nodded, "Indeed I do, I have faith you're ready to learn it, and I hope that you will use it wisely," he responded a very serious glare directed at his student.

Naruto nodded slowly, his cold blue eyes hardening with determination and his posture becoming serious, "Hai, sensei,"

Nodding Echo reached into his sweatshirt pocket and retrieved a small black box. "Then lets begin shall we?"

**The next night**

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the second night of Goza's Annual One Stop Carnival of Oddities Big Top Show!" Announced the booming voice of none other than the pointy-eared goblin, whose voice was met with waves of thunderous applause. Grinning his wide grin, Goza surveyed his audience, _'Quite a bit more people here than last night, I swear it must have at least doubled in size!'_ he thought his mouth practically drooling at what that meant for his income. "So who's ready to see something amazing?" roared out the demon. He was met with even more thunderous applause and cheers.

While Goza was getting the crowd revved up, Kiki and Naruto were going over their routine backstage. Unlike last night, they would be opening the show. "Ok, so after you've done you're little flying act all I have to do is catch you right?" Naruto asked, making sure he knew what he was doing.

Kiki rolled her eyes at the blond, "Yes Naruto, just keep your eyes on me and be ready to catch me," she told him, _'Jeez it's not that complicated'_ she thought.

"Ok then, lets get going!" Naruto exclaimed, grabbing the girl by the wrist and leading her to the ring. The lights had gone out except for a single spotlight that rested on Goza. Quickly and quietly the two took their positions while Goza began introducing them, "And now ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you our opening act! Last night they closed, but tonight they open! Please put your hands together for my daughter Kikioko Atezuiryo!" with a flourish, Goza gestured upwards and a spotlight appeared on the trapeze platform where Kiki stood. Wearing the same costume as last night, the redhead gave the audience a small wave, which was met with roars of approval, "And her assistant, the fox reaper himself, Naruto Uzumaki!" this time a spotlight shone on the ground next to the ringmaster to reveal the jinchuuriki in the same outfit he wore last night, although with a new mask. Giving an energetic wave, the blond received the same thunderous applause that Kiki had, though some chuckles were mixed in with it.

"You're all in for quite the show ladies and gents, for my daughter shall be performing the amazing Flying Knife stunt!" Goza declared, the audience immediately began whispering among themselves, wondering what the flying knife trick could be. "Now I must warn you all to stay in your seats as this trick is extremely dangerous," Goza warned with Naruto nodding seriously in the background, "This trick can and WILL kill anyone who does not take the proper precautions, in fact only trained professionals are even allowed to be anywhere near the spot where it's being performed!" Goza exclaimed. Naruto nodded sagely and had the look of utmost confidence and arrogance about him, "Which is why I'm amazed we're letting Naruto within even fifty feet of the area,"

The crowd erupted into laughter while Naruto just froze, his entire body screaming shock before his shoulders slumped and an aura of depression settled over him. "Now how about we get this show rolling?" Goza declared. The crowd agreed with the ringmaster while Naruto just trudged over to stand underneath Kiki's platform.

As the crowd slowly descended into silence, Kiki withdrew two knives from her belt. They were simple daggers, but the metal of the blades seemed to gleam in the light of the spotlight, as if they were made with light itself.

Lazily, Kiki flicked her left wrist, sending the knife in her hand soaring into the air in front of her. Yet the weapon stopped, right in the middle of its flight. It just rested there, still as a statue, and simply hovered in the open air not more than five feet in front of Kiki. Smirking at the awed silence of the crowd, Kiki hopped forward and landed lightly upon the weapon. The crowd's eyes nearly bulged out of their heads at what they were seeing, but none dared to breathe and simply watched as Kiki made her next move.

Taking her second dagger, she pointed the tip towards the earth and released it. Yet like the knife she was standing upon, it did not fall and simply hung in the air. Smiling, the girl flicked the handle and watched as the weapon spun in place, the spotlight reflecting off of it causing it to become little more than a disc of spinning reflected light.

That was when the act truly started. Kiki sprung into action, tossing knives everywhere, all of them levitating in the air. Some she used as standing points to leap to and from, others became like her second dagger, while even more flew through the air like so many birds, each blade reflecting the light of the spotlight with a golden brilliance, entrancing the audience.

The only ones whose eyes were not entranced by the dazzling sight were Naruto's, who was busy catching and hiding any fallen knife as well as keeping an eye on Kiki, Kakashi's, who was grinning at his student's progress in such a short time, and a black-cloaked burly figure's, that was slowly walking down from the bleachers.

Kiki threw her final dagger forward, where it stopped dead center of the tent, twenty feet in the air. Standing still and both arms spread out to her sides, she lifted her head to the sky. All the knives in the air stopped their spinning and flying and froze, the light glinting off of their metal. The lights died down until only one spotlight was left shining on Kikioko, but the blades still glinted in their frozen places, looking like so many twinkling stars in the night sky. She let her arms fall to her sides slowly, the light changing to become a pale blue. When her arms laid at her sides, the redhead slowly fell backwards. As her heels left the knife, the knives that had hung suspended in the air fell as well, all clattering to the floor. Naruto caught Kiki with in his arms, his masked face staring into the faces of the mesmerized crowds while the sounds of the knives falling to the floor filled the ears of everyone present with a strange melody.

When the last knife fell, the room went black and silence held sway for a moment and then…

Cheers. Thunderous, raucous, and wondrous cheers rent the air as the lights came back on to reveal the bowing figures of Naruto and Kiki. The crowd was going wild! No one could calm them and no one would have had it not been for one certain figure standing behind the duo, slowly clapping.

The crowd soon stopped their cheers, their jubilation dying in their throats as this strange, hooded figure continued his slow clap behind the duo. "Very well done, very entertaining," rumbled the black cloaked figure, his deep voice easily being heard by everyone present, "Yet as entertaining as it was, I'm going to have to ask that you drop your weapons and do exactly as I say," his voice gained a warning edge to it that immediately put everyone on edge.

"And just who the hell do you think you are?" Naruto demanded, staring up at the figure with a scowl. The large figure in question merely backhanded the blond, sending him flying a few feet away before landing on his back with groan.

"Naruto! Why you piece of-" Kiki was about to attack the figure, but his next words stopped her cold.

"Make another move and everyone in this room dies," he declared. Kiki looked taken aback by the statement, "Look around miss acrobat," he ordered. Confused, Kiki did just that and what she saw shocked her.

Everyone in the tent was being held hostage by hundreds of bandits! Women were being held by knifepoint by men in ragged clothing. Children were being hidden behind fathers' backs as they stared down notched bows and arrows. Bandits surrounded even her teammates and sensei.

"Now everyone on your feet!" barked the shrouded figure, removing his cloak with a flourish. Standing before Kiki was the biggest man she had ever seen and she couldn't help the twinge of fear that went through her at the sight of the man. He was huge with muscles galore, richly tanned skin, and scars covering almost every inch of his body. He was bald with cruel black eyes. He was wearing a filthy red vest and ragged black shorts with matching worn boots, "I'm only saying this once, my name is Khan and unless you want to use your guts for pillows, you'll follow me and my men, now!" he barked harshly.

"Like hell you bastard!" Naruto shouted, leaping to cut the man in half. Khan stepped to the side and turned on his heel, bringing the full weight of his fist and strength straight into the boy's face, shattering the mask and once again putting Naruto flat on his back. Growling Naruto tried to get back up, but was unable to thanks to Khan stepping on his chest. Pressing down, Khan smirked evilly as he watched Naruto's face grimace in pain.

"You've got guts brat, not a lot of brains but plenty of guts to try something like that on me," Khan declared. He scowled though, "But if you try that again I'll slaughter every single person here," reaching out with his right hand he snatched the silently approaching Kiki around her neck and turned to face her with a malicious grin, "Starting with this little beauty right here,"

"Now everyone, get your asses in gear!" he roared.

**Ah hour later**

"Oi! Watch the merchandise!" Goza snapped at a bandit before he was shoved in the cage along with everyone else. The bandits had taken to putting everyone inside of the animal cages, after emptying them of said animals and taking any weapons the people might have had, of course. When someone had asked what had happened to the animals, a bandit only commented with, "Fur sells for quite a bit up in Yuki" That wasn't what had Goza angry though.

"When I get out of here I'm going to rip you people apart for messing with my business!" roared the pudgy green goblin. "You hear me? I will rip your knucklebones out one by one and play dice with them! I will use your eyeballs in my own personal roulette game! I'll skin you and craft your skin into cards and play blackjack with them! I'll turn your bodies into slot machines that eject your entrails every time it hits a jackpot! I'll…"

As Goza continued his macabre, gambling related threats to the bandits, Naruto was sitting with his team, brooding and rubbing his sore chest. Kiki had tried to console him, but the blond wanted no comfort so she was left to stare at him in worry as she wondered what would happen next. Sasuke was remaining calm, but inside he was furious that these common thugs would dare put someone like him in a cage. Sakura… She was freaking out, "W-What do we do now? How are we going to get out of here," stammered Sakura, her heart beating a mile a minute, "What are they going to do to us? Will they kill us? Sell us as slaves? I can't be a slave for the rest of my life!" she nearly shrieked.

"Maa, maa, relax Sakura-chan," drawled Kakashi's lazy voice. Turning her head she stared at her relaxed sensei, who was casually reading his favorite piece of porn, "Everything's going to be fine," he reassured the girl while flipping a page.

"You mean you have a plan then?" Sasuke spoke up curiously. Sakura immediately looked hopefully at her sensei.

"Nope," Kakashi replied lazily.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOPE?" Sakura roared angrily.

"So much for the covert rescue operation," announced a voice. Surprised, Team 7 turned to look outside the cage and beheld none other than Echo standing there, a small smile on his face. "Yo, looking to break out of that the rusty cage and run?" he asked, chuckling slightly. The blank stares he received only made him feel embarrassed.

"Now's not the time for stupid jokes sensei," Naruto muttered in a deadpan.

"Echo! You've got to get me out of here! They're taking all my precious gold!" Goza exclaimed, appearing in front of the shovel toting man.

Echo merely rolled his eyes, "I'm aware, but I think defending the civilians takes priority over your monetary income at the moment," he replied blandly.

"Nonsense! I can already see you've secured the location using nonlethal force and have more than likely come to break us free to drive these bandits out," Goza sniffed. Blinking in surprise, the genin looked outside their cage to see that, sure enough, the bandits that had been guarding them were all unconscious, "Besides, as long as these people are alive they can always give me more money, but the money those bandits are taking I'll never see again! So stop sitting there and go save my money slug jockey!"

Echo merely flicked the goblin's nose in response; "I haven't cared about money since I became a soldier, why would care about it now?" he asked.

"Because root beer costs money?" Kiki supplied with a giggle.

The dirty blond merely smirked in response before he became serious, "Look you guys, you need to get serious, we're not dealing with normal bandits here," he stated seriously.

"And just who exactly are these guys?" Sasuke asked in annoyance.

"The Genghis Gang," Echo replied with a scowl, "They're the largest organization of bandits I've ever met, and that's saying something,"

"Pff, they're just bandits! The only one we need to worry about is that big guy! Just get me back my scythe and I'll bring you his head," Naruto snapped.

Echo shook his head at the boy, "So powerful yet still so much to learn," he muttered, "Listen and listen well Naruto, information is a vital thing in any form of combat or operation, so take it," growling the Uzumaki just sent a halfhearted glare at his teacher. Seeing as that would be his best response Echo continued, "The Genghis Gang is a small army, there are about five hundred of them in total, all of them now here,"

"Five hundred? How are we going to take on five hundred enemies at once?" Sakura nearly shouted.

"By being very careful and skilled," Kakashi spoke up.

Echo chuckled slightly at that, "Yes, of course, now, since you know the numbers, time to know the motivation," Echo became deadly serious, "These men are scum; they're thieves without honor, assassins without codes, mercenaries without morals. They will do anything for just one cent, that's all they want. Money, but Khan, he's a different monster," snapping his figures, a smoky apparition of the man appeared behind Echo, "Stronger than ten men, mind sharper than any blade and wielder of a sword said to be forged in the heavens, Khan is not an opponent to take lightly,"

"So what are we going to do? Just sneak up and slit his throat?" Sasuke asked, his eyes calculating.

Echo frowned, "While that is an effective way of doing it, Khan's no idiot. He's most likely hidden himself somewhere and won't come out until his boys are finished looting the place,"

"So what do we do then? Split up and search for him? This place isn't exactly small," Kiki spoke up.

"Which is why you five will have to split up and search for him," before the ninja could shoot holes in his plan Echo continued quickly, "But not alone! Sakura go with Sasuke, Kiki go with Naruto while Kakashi goes solo. While you guys are looking I'll defend the civilians here,"

"That's a great plan, but in case you didn't notice, there's a couple hundred bandits out there! What's to stop them from attacking us when we actually do find Khan?"

A cough interrupted anything Echo might have said. Turning towards the sound, they beheld the sight of Goza, Tetsol, Damian and a myriad of the other carnival workers all standing with grins on their faces, "Oh don't worry about them, if Echo is going to hold the fort here, then it's only right we lend a hand,"

Sakura frowned slightly at that, "But Goza-san, what will you guys do?

At that inquiry Goza's smile seemed to become a little more sinister, "Oh don't worry about that, just give us a couple minutes then get going,"

**A few minutes later**

"So what's in this thing?" a bandit asked his companions, referring to the wooden trailer that they had been sent to investigate. Him and a group of seven other bandits had been ordered by Khan to take inventory of all the stuff that Goza had brought. Once they were don't, they were to report back and to their leader who would determine whether it was worthwhile to keep or just leave behind.

"How the hell would I know? If I knew what was in it we wouldn't be here!" another bandit spat in reply, the others snickering at the stupidity of their fellow bandit.

"I mean what do you think is in it?" the first one snapped back.

"Again, how the hell would I know? These freaks probably have all sorts of weird things," replied the second, the rest muttering in agreement.

The first shrugged and walked up to the back door of the metal trailer, the others trailing behind him slightly. Sliding back the bolt that kept it shut, he flung the doors open. The contents inside surprised the group.

"Fireworks?" one of them asked stupidly. Another came forward, a torch in hand and brought it close to inspect the contents.

"Whoa! Look at all this stuff!" he breathed, "There's enough gunpowder here to blow up a village!"

"Baka!" the first bandit yelled, smashing a fist into the head of the torch wielding one, "Do you have any idea how stupid it is to bring a torch into a trailer full of fireworks?"

"Sorry! I just figured-" before he could continue the torch wielding bandit was hit again, this time by the second bandit, who joined the two in the trailer.

"Moron! Use your brain next time! If you have any anyway!" the second shouted, "Do you have any idea what might have happened if those went off while we were in here with them?"

"I can guess," growled a voice behind them. Surprised the three whirled around just in time to see the doors slam close while their torch was snatched from their hands by a clawed hand.

"Your friend has a point," spoke the voice, the torch illuminating the speaker to be Hito, his glowing red and yellow pits of eyes glaring at them. His sharp white teeth glinted in the torchlight as he brought it close in order to light the cigarette clamped between his teeth. Immediately, smoke began to fill the room, a dense black cloud that burned the lungs of the mere humans who dared to inhale it. Sucking on the cancer stick hard, the bakuma expelled the black smoke out of his nose into the faces of the petrified bandits as he spoke, "Fire, pretty as it is, is dangerous, and a single spark," here he grinned a predatory like grin, "Could set off an explosion of epic proportions,"

"Fire bursting through the sky and land, a glorious blaze of destruction that scorches the eyes and skin in a pleasing way," Hito began speaking, a strange glint entering his eyes, "Black smoke rolling through the air, infesting the lungs with the smell of smoke and leaving a taste of ash on your tongue like a dollop of honey," he licked his teeth with a disgustingly green tongue, saliva drooling out of the upturned corners of his mouth, "And the sound, that glorious single sound," he shuddered in seeming pleasure as the veins on his visible skin began to glow a fiery orange, "That's my favorite part, the thunder that robs you of your hearing, the single clap of power that makes your teeth shake and leaves that single high pitched note ringing in your ears,"

The bandits were trying to escape the monster in front of them, but the only way they could go was further into the trailer, into the fireworks. They were stuck, stuck in front of an orange and red glowing monster whose eyes were shining with barely restrained power.

"I love that feeling, that euphoric ecstasy that flows through me when I explode," Hito whispered. That's when the bandits realized something. They weren't stuck in a trailer with a demon.

They were stuck between a powder keg and a living bomb.

And it was ready to detonate.

"Wait! Don't! Stop!" the three screamed in fear, but it was far too late. Hito gave them a demented grin and stare as he slowly whispered one word.

"Boom,"

There was a beat of silence, then an explosion akin to that of a volcanoe's eruption came from the trailer, killing all eight bandits nearby and setting off a cascade of fireworks that launched into the sky with the orange and black mushroom cloud, painting the night sky with blinding flashes of colors, cascades of sparks scattering across the air, like rainbow shooting stars. The sound was heard from every man woman and child within the festival area and a good distance out of it as well. The light show was also seen by any who looked towards the source, and not a single eye was focused elsewhere.

At ground zero of the explosion, Hito stood surrounded by ash, scorched earth,debris of both human bodies and the trailer and all the while he had a content smile on his face.

"There's the signal, I better get out of here," Hito muttered as he slowly walked off. He inhaled deeply from his cancer stick, and sighed out of his nose, black smoke billowing from his nose like smoke from a coalmine, "I don't even get to admire my work," he grumbled.

**The Big Top tent**

Khan sat silently on a chair in the middle of the big top ring, his eyes closed and his bulky frame not twitching a muscle, even his breathing was silent and shallow, his chest barely rising and falling. He had heard the explosion, had seen the fireworks and had calmly dispatched a fourth of his troops, about 125 bandits, towards the explosion while another fourth went to check on the prisoners. He kept fifty with him at the big tent while the rest patrolled the festival grounds and rounded up anyone or anything of value.

Standing slowly, the giant stood and picked up the scythe that had been resting against the chair he was in. He laughed silently to himself as he beheld the thing; it was barely a weapon in his hands!

While it was tall, easily six feet when stood up straight, it did not even reach his shoulder. His hand easily wrapped around the shaft of it, and he felt that if he wanted to, he could easily snap it in half with his hands like a toothpick, or an average man's spine. The blade was the only thing that concerned him, while it was incredibly small to him; about as long as his hand and a third as wide on the top as his little finger, it was still incredibly and terrifyingly sharp.

It made him wary, not that the great Khan would ever admit it, but there was just something about the scythe that made him feel… mortal. As if despite being a leader of an army of bandits, despite having defeated and killed hundreds of enemy guards, ninja and samurai, he was still easily killable to that scythe.

"Bah!" he scoffed, shaking away his thoughts, "I am Khan! Leader of the Genghis gang and slayer of men! Let any who dare come and try to dethrone me, they will only meet their end!" he proclaimed, "Not even the Shinigami would dare try to take my soul! In fact, I DARE him to try!" with the proclamation, the large man threw his head back and roared with laughter.

A mortal should know better than to tempt the inevitable, because while his soul is already his, the reaper may come to collect early…

**Back outside**

It was chaos outside in the festival grounds. The explosion from earlier seemed to be a kind of signal, because no sooner had the mushroom cloud appeared then did all hell break loose! A tall madman was cutting through bandits left and right while humming some funeral dirge while bats, rats, spiders and other creatures of that nature poured out of his hat and swarmed whatever man was unlucky enough to be nearby! A giant dragon was conjured by some floating man in robes and was attacking them from the sky, sometimes landing to flatten the bandits then gobble them up like snacks. Then there were the explosions orchestrated by the red skinned demon smoking a cigarette, the guy was making it rain blood, organs, limbs, ash, fire and other debris everywhere he went! Then there were was that pudgy green goblin. The damn demon just kept grinning as his knives skewered any bandit foolish enough- or unfortunate enough- to catch his eye. There were a hundred and fifty of them when they got there and now they had maybe two thirds of their force left.

"This is more fun than the Massacre Ball!" laughed Damian, ripping out the throat of some bandit as he continued his demented humming.

"Don't you mean 'Masquerade'?" Goza asked, tossing another knife into they left eye of a bandit.

"No, he doesn't" Tetsol answered, directing his dragon to swipe at a couple of bandits.

"I just hope those shinobi find that big guy and quick," Hito barked out, incinerating a man who tried to attack him with a club to the head, "We can't keep this up for very long,"

"Oh come now," Damian called out merrily, watching with glee as his hat conjured vermin swarmed a man and began to devour him, "You underestimate our powers!" he cackled. The madman never noticed the axe that beheaded him.

And the bandit died with confusion on his face as the headless body ripped his stomach open.

"And you underestimate our enemy," Tetsol said in a monotone, casually picking up Damian's head and giving it a baleful glare. The head of the scary man just smiled back in response. Tossing it over his shoulder, the head landed once more back on the neck of its body, the skin immediately stitching together. Glancing back at the bandits, he blinked when he saw them regrouping and beginning to surround him and his allies.

With a wave of his hand, Tetsol dismissed his dragon and retreated until he was back to back with his allies. The bandits had encased them in a circle and were preparing to charge.

"Any advice? Plans? Ideas?" Goza asked, knives in his clawed hands.

"Just one," Tetsol spoke, his hands becoming encased in a blue glow as he stared down the approaching enemies.

"And that would be?" Hito demanded, hands glowing yellow.

"Don't die," and they braced themselves for the onslaught.

**With the shinobi**

While Goza and the others distracted the bandits, the ninja were making their game plan. Kakashi had a serious face on as he glared at each of the genin, "Team, we need a plan in order to stop these guys," Kakashi stated simply, "I'm all for Echo's plan and I agree with the teams, but taking out Khan isn't going to be enough,"

"How so?" Naruto piped up, a scowl on his face, "Don't we just have to take out Khan then we win?" he asked.

"Baka, it's not as simple as that," Sasuke replied coolly, his onyx eyes fixated on a plan only he could see.

"Sasuke's right, there are hundreds of bandits here, and killing one person, even if that person is their leader, won't leave them defenseless," Kakashi spoke, quickly stopping any comeback Naruto might have had, "These guys are ruthless killers, and all of them together could easily overwhelm us,"

"So what do you suggest sensei?" Sakura asked, a bit of worry in her emerald eyes.

Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment, his mind formulating a plan, "Sasuke, you take Sakura while Naruto goes with Kiki. Both teams begin thinning out the numbers some of our bandit friends, do anything you can to make the odds more in our favor," Kakashi ordered, "I'm going after Khan,"

"WHAT? I want to go after that teme!" Naruto exclaimed in outrage.

"Your not ready to go against someone like him yet," Kakashi replied calmly, his eyes still closed.

"I don't care, ttebayo! That bastard took my scythe and I'm getting it back!" Naruto declared, glaring furiously at his sensei.

"Baka! Do you want to get yourself killed?" Sakura scolded the boy, standing and glaring at the blond.

"No, I want to make that big jerk pay for what he did to me!" Naruto snarled back.

"Naruto, please-" Kiki began, trying to soothe him, but he brushed her off and glared at Kakashi, "Let me go after him," he demanded.

Kakashi merely glared back and said, "You can either obey my orders or you can go guard the prisoners with Echo, those are your choices Naruto, and if you go against either one, I'll charge you with insubordination," Kakashi replied, a warning edge making its way into his usually lazy voice.

Naruto scowled even further and for a moment Kakashi thought he saw his student's eyes flash red. He sighed in relief however when Naruto just huffed and sat back down. Standing up, his students mimicking him, Kakashi gave the order to go and the four vanished into the night.

As the genin began to hop from structure to structure, Sasuke began to lay out their plan of attack, "Since Naruto doesn't have his scythe we need to be quick, find a small group, attack, then move out. Sakura, you go ahead of us and scout out some targets, but stay in sight! When you have a potential target, stop and signal us, got it?"

"Understood," Sakura answers, pushing more power into her leaps as she moves ahead of the rest.

"Kiki, you be our long range support and clean up, pick off any targets as we go in and leave. Stay out of reach of the bandits if you can and pick off any stragglers as we move out," Sasuke ordered the red haired girl, his eyes still trained on Sakura's form that was now looking for potential targets.

"Mm!" Kiki grunts in response, dropping back a bit behind the Uchiha.

"Naruto, you and I are the main attack force. I know you don't have your scythe, but you'll just have to manage with kunai and fists," Sasuke barks out, not once looking in his teammate's direction, "We go in, do some damage and get out, you got that?" Silence is the Uchiha's only response. Sasuke scowled at that, _'Probably moping about that bandit still' _"I said, do you understand? Or are you too stupid?" Sasuke called, knowing the comment about his intelligence would get a reaction from him.

Still nothing.

Growling, Sasuke stopped next to Sakura and whirled around to confront his teammate. What he saw only made him pause for a short minute before he sighed in annoyance.

"Sakura, Kiki, change in plans," the Uchiha declared, "Naruto has gone after Khan," he announced.

"WHAT? That idiot! He's going to get himself killed!" Sakura nearly screeched.

"Calm down Sakura, I'm sure Whiskers-kun knows what he's doing," Kiki soothed, but Sasuke could easily tell she was just as concerned for the boy, if not more so, "Sasuke, what do we do?" she asked.

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes, "Isn't it obvious? We continue what we're doing,"

"But Naruto-"

"Naruto will be fine," Sasuke replied coolly, dismissing any protests Sakura might have had, "All we can do is our job, when Naruto and Kakashi-sensei are done, I doubt they'll be up to facing an army of bandits,"

The others could only nod in agreement, and pray that their blond teammate survived.

While his teammates battled bandits, Naruto drew closer to Khan. The boy had changed out of his show attire and was now clad in his usual wardrobe. He knew where Khan was, could feel his corrupted soul.

"I'm coming to take what's mine," he growled under his breath.

**Big Top**

Kakashi, hidden in the darkest corner of the big top, studied his target carefully, wondering how best to take out this giant of a man, who was now armed with a sword the likes of which the one eyed shinobi had never seen.

It was giant of a thing, easily as tall as Khan was from hand to tip. The handle and cross guard was a simple thing of dull black iron with red leather rapping, but it was the blade itself that drew the eye. For one, it was gray and looked to be made of granite or concrete. It had was harp on both ends, a dual edged sword that was at least six inches wide before coming to a pin like point at the tip. The edges seemed to gleam in an eerie way, like a star in the night sky.

'_I could beat him in a straight fight, but it would be better and easier to just take him quickly'_ Kakashi though to himself. Slowly lifting his headband, the jounin prepared to use one of his deadliest techniques.

"HEY OX BREATH!" the shout caused both Kakashi and Khan to halt in what they were doing. Out of nowhere, Naruto came flying in with his fist already on a collision course with the surprised giant. With a cry of rage, Naruto decked the giant in the face, sending him staggering back a few steps.

Naruto stood in the spotligt of the ring, his face set in a scowl and his fists in front of him as he jumped on the balls of his feet. "I'm back for my scythe and to kick your ass!" Naruto declared simply.

Khan glared at the blond, but he couldn't help the smirk on his face, "Heh, just like I said, you got guts kid," he wiped his lips and seeing the blood on his hand, his smirk seemed to grow even wider. _'Brat actually managed to split my lip'_ he thought, "Too bad I got to rip 'em out of ya,"

"Ha! Come and try it, dattebayo!" Naruto challenged, still bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"You asked for it! HYAH!" With a cry, he lunged forward, bringing his sword done to cut his opponent in half. Naruto sidestepped the giant sword, but Khan immediately backhanded the boy with his left hand. Naruto saw nearly sent tumbling back, but was able to keep his footing long enough to dodge the big man's next swing.

Ducking under the horizontal cut, the Uzumaki leapt back up to deliver and uppercut to Khan's jaw. His fist connected and cuased the giant to grunt in pain, but before Naruto could follow up, Khan's giant foot kicked Naruto away, sending the blond tumbling.

Naruto got back to his feet groggily, a hand clutching at his ribs. He wasn't given a chance to attack, because Khan was pressing his advantage to the fullest. Barreling forward like an ox, Khan tried to run the genin through. Naruto quickly rolled out of the way and into one of the main poles of the tent.

"DIE!" Khan roared, Yrlping in surprise, Naruto did the only thing he could and leapt straight up, his feet sticking to the pole as he got out of Khan's reach.

The pole, however, wasn't out of reach.

The sword cut through the pole like it was nothing. Perhaps cut would be the wrong word here, because this was more like searing or burning combined with cutting. When the sword connected with the wood, it literally burned through it!

And now the flames were about to consume him!

"Shit!" Naruto swore, running straight up the pole, _'What the hell kind of fire is that?'_ thought the blond as he chanced a look behind him. The fire was easily burning the wood up, burning it faster than a normal fire should. It was as if this fire, these flames, were wild and ravenous beasts, all working together to completely consume all that they touched.

Knowing the pillar would not last long, Naruto doubled his speed and leapt off of it, a good thirty feet in the air. As he fell, the boy looked on in horror as Khan was right below him, sword raised and ready to impale him.

Khan watched in triumph as his target descended onto his waiting blade. While the genin had proven himself to be tough, he had messed with someone out of his league and would now reap the consequences. He allowed his smugness to rule over him then, and closed his eyes. Khan would not even bother to watch and instead relish the sound of his body spearing itself on his sword. He awaited and braced for the coming extra weight, but something was amiss.

Something did fall on his sword, yes, but it did not truly fall so much as whatever it was now looped around his arm. Surprised, the man opened his eyes and beheld a most peculiar sight.

Wrapped around his wrist, resting innocently on his bracer was a necklace made of purple prayer beads.

'_What the-?'_ he did not have time to wonder long as a warning signal went off in Khan's head. Whirling around and jumping back, Khan was able to avoid the worst of the attack, but it did not stop the long gash from being cut across the center of his chest. Wincing in pain Khan looked up and was shocked then angered to see a smiling Naruto, scythe in hand and the blade dripping blood. HIS blood.

"What the hell? How did you escape?" Khan demanded.

"You're not the only one who has tricks up their sleeves mister fire sword," Naruto replied with a grin, "What? Never heard of the substitution jutsu?"

From his vantage point, Kakashi could only smile lightly at his student. So far. The boy had proven himself perfectly able, even with that sword's fire ability. He had seen how Naruto took off his necklace, tossed it out of harm's way and substituted with it. The tactic allowed him to avoid death AND retrieve his scythe from where Khan had left it. Kakashi had decided to intervene should things become too much for Naruto and so far, Naruto had proven more than capable. _'Let's see what you've learned Naruto'_

"Ha, that scythe won't save you from my sword," Khan laughed, "No one escapes the fames of Khan's Wrath,"

"You named the sword after yourself?" Naruto asked incredulously, "That's just lame," he deadpanned.

Khan merely grinned, "This sword was forged from the metal of a meteor, it's imbued with the very powers of heaven itself!" he declared, "This blade has burned down more villages than I care to remember, and it's what's going to make me king of the world!" he rushed Naruto, attempting to cleave him in half once more. Naruto merely leapt out of the way and watched in surprise as a wave of fire erupted from the sword, "It is only natural that such a blade be named after its greatest wielder!"

Naruto didn't even bother to respond and instead moved in with his own attack. _'Just need one good hit'_ thought the blond. Khan laughed at his approach and swung once more, sending a wave of fire at him.

Not deterred in the least, Naruto responded by cutting through the flames with his own weapon and continued his charge. Surprised, Khan barely had time to react as Naruto scored another hit on the giant. The blond was able to leave a long and shallow cut along his upper right chest, before he was once again swatted aside by Khan's vicious backhand.

"You're starting to piss me off brat!" Khan growled. Naruto just rose back up from the dirt, leaning slightly on his scythe. While he hadn't taken a lot of hits, Khan's attacks were taking a toll on Naruto.

'_Like being hit with a brick wall'_ thought the Uzumaki, a hand coming to rest on his bruised ribcage. He looked at his opponent one more time and observed the cuts he had made. _'Too shallow, need to make a deeper one'_ that's when he noticed the prayer beads that were at Khan's feet. Sometime during their fight, they must have slipped off of Khan and landed on the ground.

Naruto grinned at the opportunity, _'Perfect'_

Going through handseals, the blond disappeared in a poof of smoke, as did the beads at Khan's feet. Khan coughed as the smoke enveloped his vision and wondered what the heck just happened. Waving a hand to clear the smoke, he barely had enough time to widen his eyes before Naruto had plunged his scythe into Khan's chest.

Roaring in pain, the bald bandit leader ripped the scythe from his chest and swung it down, slamming Naruto in the ground with tremendous force in the process, as the boy had refused to relinquish his hold on the weapon. Khan then kicked the blond away, one hand now clutching the deep wound on his left pectoral while the other swung forward sending a wave of fire at the ninja.

Naruto was only able to cover his face and take the brunt of the attck. Luckily, he didn't catch fire, but several of his ribs had definitely been broken thanks to Khan's attacks. However he'd gotten the one strike he needed. Switching his scythe back from spear position it had been in when he attacked, Naruto leaned against it and began to focue energy into his free hand. Ultimately, this pissed Khan off to no end.

"That's it! I'm going to kill you, you little shit!" Kan roared. Taking the sword into both hands, he rushed Naruto's still form and brought the weapon up to slice the genin in two. He was at the blond now, close enough that when he did cut through him, he would feel the spray of his blood on his body.

"DIE!" roared the giant, bringing his flamind blade down on Naruto's head. Up in his hiding place, Kakashi was rushing to protect his student's life.

SHINK

Time seemed to stop as Khan and Kakashi watched in horror and shock respectively as Khan's sword fell to the ground. The blade was gone, but the handle was still in Khan's hand. _'How?'_ thought the leader. The answer came to him when it buried itself into his back and pulled him down to eye level with his opponent.

Naruto smirked at Khan, one hand using his scythe to hold the giant in place, the other in a clawed form and glowing with white energy, "Long live the king," he muttered darkly, blue eyes flashing crimson as he thrust his clawed hand forward and buried it into the wound Naruto cased earlier.

Kakashi watched in horror as his student plunged his hand into the bandit's chest and could only stand in awe while said bandit began screaming in pain. This didn't seem to bother Naruto at all as he continued his technique. Soon, Khan stopped screaming and his body began to grow pale as his eyes slowly dimmed and rolled into the back of his head. Apparently finished, Naruto released the corpse and stared at a small white orb that sat in his hand. Kakashi blinked in confusion at what he saw, _'What the hell is that?'_

Naruto knew what was in his hand however, and was now trying to come to terms with what he had just done. He'd done it, done what every reaper did.

He'd taken a soul.

The fact that this was his first kill didn't register as heavily as the fact that he had actually taken someone's soul from their still living body. Echo had warned him that stealing the soul from a person was nothing like taking it out of a box, but Naruto had just thought he meant it would be harder.

Now… he understood the meaning behind what his shovel toting sensei had said.

"**Bravo! Very well done Naruto-kun!'** Kyuubi's voice purred in his head, snapping him from his thoughts, **"I knew you could do it,"**

'_Thanks Kyuubi-chan, but I really don't feel like I should be congratulated'_ Naruto responded. It was true, if anything, Naruto felt like he should be ashamed, terrified even, of what he had just done.

"**Nonsense! You fought well, defeated a tough opponent and were successfully able to take his soul. I'm so proud of you Naru-kun!"** Kyuubi gushed.

'_I suppose… but what do I do now?'_ he wondered.

"**Well, I think that's obvious enough,"** Kyuubi answered, **'Time for the victor's feast,"**

Naruto's body literally spasmed in surprise at her words, He knew what she was talking about. She wanted him to eat it. Naruto stared at the soul, unsure of what to do. Slowly, ever so slowly, he brought it to his lips. He began to open his moth wide and was just about to devour it when he stopped.

No.

He couldn't eat the soul, not yet anyway.

Instead, the blonde retrieved his prayer beads and touched the soul to one of the many urple orbs that made up the necklace. Almost immediately, the white orb was absorbed into the necklace. Replacing it around his neck, Naruto heaved out a sigh and stared at the corpse of his enemy.

He didn't stare long as a hand on his shoulder grabbed his attention. Surprised, Naruto looked up to see the proudly smiling eye of his sensei, "Good job Naruto," he complimented.

For a moment, Naruto just stared back in surprise but then grinned back. The two left the tent to finish clearing out the bandits, neither one bothering to give the empty body of Khan a second glance.

The bandit king was dead.

**A/N: And this is the end of my very own arc! Not as long as I wanted, but I figure I've kept you all waiting long enough. Now the ball should get rolling a little more easily. Be sure to leave a review!**

**Ja ne!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Guardian Angel**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"**

'_**Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'**_

**A/N: Ok, so I have been gone for a VERY long time… Sorry. Just been an… interesting year. Good, bad, and overall chaotic… Take it from me, just because you're a senior does not mean you'll have the time of your life… Anyway! Gotta get writing! Let's go!**

"So, he took a soul huh?" Goza asked, his usual grin gone and a somber look on his face. Echo didn't answer him right away, and instead focused on the noise that was the troupe, finally heading home after the festival. Goza and Echo were seated on the lead carriage, the sky darkening above them.

"Yes," Echo finally whispered.

Goza glanced at his friend, taking in the man's thoughtful and rather depressing aura. He sighed and said, "You don't have to look so sad about it, I mean, it was bound to happen sooner or later, right?"

Echo only shook his head, "I wouldn't expect you to understand Goza," he replied.

The goblin snorted at that, "Oh? And what exactly is that supposed to mean slug jockey? That I'm stupid or ignorant?"

Echo smirked as he replied, "A bit of both," the smirk vanished, "But I mean, Naruto has officially taken a soul, and at the moment, that soul has yet to be…" Echo paused, searching for the correct word to use, "Processed," he finished.

"Processed?" Goza asked.

"Souls are powerful things Goza, and they must be 'processed'" Echo explained, using air quotes when he said processed, "Before they can enter into the afterlife,"

"And how exactly does a reaper 'process' a soul?" Goza asked curiously.

"By removing the excess energy," Echo answered, "You see, there is a difference between the souls of the living and the dead," he explained, "A living soul is saturated with all kinds of energies, mostly physical and natural, but because of that it is tethered to this realm of existence, the realm of the living," Echo made a flame appear in his hand, a blue thing thrumming with life, "In order for it to pass, the excess energy must be removed," Echo explained as he used his other hand and seemed to absorb some of the flame's energy, causing it to dim and shrink.

"Huh, so Naruto hasn't removed the excess then?" Goza asked, "Wait, how does a reaper remove excess energy?"

"First off, removing energy from a spirit isn't exclusively reaper," Echo explained with a frown, "Second, there are many ways to do it," he started ticking off ways on his fingers as he explained, "You can eat it and absorb the excess for yourself, store it inside a weapon forged from Aes Damnatis or crystal, or you could even just dispel it, heck, you can even use it for rituals and spells if you wanted,"

"Ah I see," Goza nodded, "You're afraid that if he eats it, the excess will be absorbed by the Kyuubi,"

"Exactly," Echo answered, "I don't trust her,"

"Why?" Goza asked. The demon didn't understand Echo's distrust of Kyuubi. He thought maybe it was because she was extremely dangerous or that maybe it was because she was Kitsune? The goblin almost felt like laughing at himself as he thought that. Echo trusted beings far more powerful and tricky than Kyuubi! Beings that had existed long before the nine-tailed fox.

Echo didn't answer. Instead he merely clutched at his red jacket with a pained look.

Seeing as he wasn't going to get anymore information, Goza gave a snort before spurning his oxen on, determined to get as close to Konoha as possible before they had to stop and make camp.

**With Naruto**

While Goza and Echo talked at the head of the convoy, Naruto had hidden himself inside the hay cart, creating hollow room for himself. He sat alone in the dark, the only light coming from the glowing soul resting in his hand. He was lost in thought, just marveling at it.

"This is so weird," Naruto whispered to himself.

"Whats so weird?"

Naruto gave a cry of surprise as he whipped around, the soul now behind him as he faced the only person he actually trusted more than the old Hokage back in Konoha.

"Heya Whiskers!" Kiki greeted happily as she crawled into the hollow, "Why are you hiding in here?"

Naruto didn't answer and instead just presented the soul to the curious redhead. Kikioko only stared in amazement at the white orb, her visible blue eye sparkling with wonder.

"Is that…?" she asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Whose?" Kiki asked.

"Khan's" was the simple reply.

The two sat in silence for a minute or so, enchanted by the soul that floated between them. It was just so captivating, so supernaturally beautiful! No one would have ever guessed that it belonged to a murderous bandit; that this white light had been the thing fueling a bloodthirsty bandit king. Naruto had expected it to be black, like when Fredrick had extracted the soul of that council member. He had expected some form of taint, but it just wasn't there.

"So what are you going to do with it?" Kiki asked, breaking the silence.

Naruto shrugged, not looking up as he continued to stare at the soul, "I dunno, I know I'm supposed to reap it by eating it or slicing it or something, but it just feels… weird, kind of wrong you know?"

Kiki frowned at that, unsure of her friend's words, "I don't think I do Whiskers," she confessed.

"Welll," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "It's hard to explain… I mean, yeah I was trained to be a reaper and stuff, but I'm not, I'm a shinobi,"

"Shinobi are expected to take lives though," Kiki stated.

"Yeah, but we don't deal with this stuff after we kill!" Naruto exclaimed, "We're supposed to let the gods or whatever take care of souls, but here I am with one and I don't feel like I have the right to do anything with it," he sighed.

"**Oh Naruto-kun, you're being silly,"** Kyuubi told her container, **"Just because other shinobi can't capture souls doesn't man you have to feel bad or guilty! In fact, you should feel privileged! No one else in the world can do what you can and you have every right in the world to devour that delicious soul,"** she praised.

"Well I say you should just keep it then," Kiki answered, stopping Naruto from replying to his tenant, "I mean, souls are pretty useful things, least, that's what Damian and Tetsol say,"

"How the heck do you keep a soul?" Naruto asked in confusion. Sure he knew there were ways to store a soul temporarily, like in his prayer beads, but as far as he knew, there wasn't any real way to keep a soul. He was told that eventually they'd dissipate, gone to who knows where.

"By putting it into a crystal," Kiki answered simply. Reaching into her pocket, the girl withdrew a small, silver crystal, "Watch this," she grinned.

Before Naruto could stop her, Kiki touched the crystal to the soul. In complete shock and fascination, Naruto watched as the soul was absorbed into the crystal. In all reality, the process took no more than a moment, but to Naruto, it took a little longer. He watched, as the crystal seemed to suck the soul into it without a problem, as if it were a vacuum! When it was done, the crystal now glowed with the soul's light, amplified and enhanced by the pristine confines of its prison.

"Whoa," Naruto breathed. Kiki cupped the crystal between her hands, a small smile on her face as she stared at it.

"Back before Goza took me in, I remember this cave back home that was hidden in the gardens and it was filled with crystals like these," Kiki whispered, more to her self than Naruto, lost in the nostalgia of her memories, "It was beautiful, all those different lights and crystals!"

"It must have been amazing," Naruto said quietly, staring at Kik's face bathed in the ephemeral light of the crystal.

Kiki nodded, looking up to speak again but stopped when she caught the startling blue eyes of her teammate. She was entranced by the glow of those eyes, eyes that reflected the crystal's light.

Naruto was much the same.

Time seemed to stop for the two of them. They were lost, lost in the sea of entrancing blue that was each other's eyes. There was nothing else, no sound, no people, no missions, not even the hay. It was only them, hidden away from the prying eyes of the rest of the world.

They stared at each other.

Lost in each other's eyes.

So big, so blue, so… close?

Kiki's gaze flicked down, and her heart skipped a beat. They were mere centimeters from each other! She could feel his warm breath on her face.

She shuddered, wondering if he'd noticed as well. She looked back to his eyes and found that he had.

'_He's not backing away'_ she thought _'Does that mean-?'_

Unfortunately for Kiki, fate decided to intervene just then. Two hands burst through the hay and grabbed both teens by their respective collars before yanking them out of the straw.

"Now, now, you'll have plenty of time for this after we get back to the village," Kakashi said in amusement as he set the two down.

"We're not like that!" they retorted, both sporting furious red blushes and refusing to meet each other's eyes.

Their sensei merely chuckled, "Right, of course you're not," he replied with a roll of his eyes, "Now, Kiki, go get some rest, we're stopping for the night, and Naruto, Echo needs to talk to you before you turn in,"

The two nodded before quickly leaving, unwilling to stand in front of their sensei any longer, both far too embarrassed. Kakashi just laughed as they walked off before he too left, intent on finding his two other students.

"Jeez, stupid Kakashi sensei, ruining a moment like that," Naruto mumbled.

"**I'm glad it happened,"** Kyuubi spoke up haughtily, **"That girl should mind her own business, especially when it comes to things she knows nothing about," **

"Well, Kiki was just helping out, besides, now we don't have to worry about that soul anymore! It's safe in that crystal," Naruto assured.

"**She still shouldn't be poking her nose in your business, Naru-kun," **Kyuubi sniffed, **"And you should stop her before she gets hurt,"**

Naruto grimaced, "About that… are you sure? I mean, Kiki's strong, and so is Echo-sensei,"

"Glad you think so,"

"Gah!" Naruto jumped in surprise. The boy had been so caught up in his conversation with Kyuubi that he didn't notice that he had walked right into Echo's tent, "Ack! Echo-sensei!"

Echo waved his hand in an uncaring motion, "Eh, don't worry about it, I talk to myself all the time," he waved off, "Good way to pass the time, and a good way to work out ideas too,"

"Uh.." Naruto chose not to respond to that. He'd rather Echo didn't know that he'd been talking to Kyuubi. Despite how funny it may seem, being hit with a shovel hurt like no other. Besides, he'd just learned his sensei might be a little deranged...

"Now, enough of the chit chat, I asked you here to discuss something important," Echo stated, his face growing serious, "I need to talk to you about Khan's soul,"

Naruto stiffened at that.

Echo stared at him then sighed, noticing how uncomfortable the boy was, "Huh, talk about your déjà vu," he muttered to himself.

Naruto blinked in surprise, "Wha..?"

"I mean you're reacting a lot like I did when I first took a soul, but right now, we're here to talk about you, not me" Echo declared.

"Eh? What about me?" Naruto demanded.

"What did you do with Khan's soul?" Echo asked coolly, his entire demeanor calm and collected. Something that always put Naruto on edge.

"Well," Naruto started wondering if he should tell him or not, "It's… safe, if that's what you mean," Naruto answered finally.

"Safe?" Echo questioned, a single eye visibly glaring at Naruto from underneath Echo's bangs, "Safe can mean a lot of things Naruto,"

"Look, it's dealt with, what's the big deal Echo?" Naruto complained. The blond really didn't want to discuss this with his mentor.

Echo shot to his feet, an angry look on his face. He opened his mouth wide, ready to scold his student severely, but he stopped. Snapping his mouth closed with an audible 'click' the man brought a hand to his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. Releasing a calming breath, Echo spoke again, hand still over his eyes, "Naruto, I need you to tell me what exactly you did with Khan's soul,"

"Why?" Naruto asked, curious. He had expected his sensei to yell, as he usually did when he was frustrated or angry. It was the first time he'd actually seen him try to calm himself.

"Because I want to help you," Echo answered, removing his hand to make eye contact with his student, "I realize I can be an ass, and I apologize for that, but Naruto, you must try understand just how delicate a matter this is," he paused, "A soul isn't something to be played with, it's a living thing, the very foundation of life and a power not to be trifled with,"

Naruto stared at Echo, eyes never leaving his and trying to understand just what Echo was trying to say, "Ok…" Naruto said slowly, "Well… What if I said that I put Khan's soul into a crystal?" Naruto ventured.

Eccho's brow furrowed in confusion, "A crystal? You put Khan's soul into a crystal?" he asked.

"Well, I didn't exactly do it, Kiki did," Naruto confessed, "She said that it would preserve it,"

Echo's face gained a thoughtful look, and Naruto watched as his sensei mused to himself. Naruto was almost sure he could hear his sensei talking to a mental projection of himself… He wondered if he looked like that when he talked with Kyuubi…

"And you let Kiki do this because…?" Echo asked finally.

Naruto looked down, embarrassed to look his sensei in the face, "Because… I… just couldn't do it," he finally confessed, refusing to look up, "I mean, I know I'm supposed to eat it, or collect it with my scythe, but I just can't!"

Echo stared at his student, taking in the downcast look and hunched shoulders. _'He couldn't do it'_ Echo thought to himself. A wave of memories hit Echo and he couldn't help the bitter smile that came to his face, _'So very different'_ he thought _'Yet so much alike'_

Meanwhile Naruto had braced himself for a scolding. He was waiting for the disappointed words to come dripping out of Echo's mouth like venom from a viper's fang. He heard Echo move towards him and he prepared.

"I'm proud of you," Echo stated as he laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Surprised Naruto looked up and beheld a smiling Echo, which was pretty rare, and even more rare because it was a genuine smile, "You did the right thing,"

"Eh?! B-But I-" Naruto stammered, he'd failed to do what a reaper does! That made him a failure! He should be getting lectured, or told to man up or something like that! He didn't expect praise!

"Naruto, you're human," Echo cut the boy off, "If you had just eaten that soul right off the bat, I would have been concerned, less if you had used your scythe, but still concerned," Echo paused, "It's not easy for mortals to take other people's souls, at least, it isn't easy for a good man to take another's soul, a good man hesitates on what to do with one, even if he didn't hesitate to take it,"

"Eh?" Naruto said, completely lost.

Echo shrugged, "It's fine boy, just keep that crystal in a safe place and I'll show you some ways to send it off properly," he turned around, "You can go grab some sleep now boy, you've earned it,"

Naruto stared at his sensei a moment before slowly nodding and leaving. _'What the hell just happened?'_ Naruto thought, replaying the events in his head. There was him coming in, Echo asked about the soul, Naruto complained, Echo got mad, then Naruto confessed he just couldn't reap the soul and Echo… praised him?

Naruto grinned all the way back to his tent as he remembered Echo's words of praise. Jumping into his sleeping bag, Naruto had one last thought before entering blissful sleep.

'_Sure is nice to be praised though'_ and with that, Naruto fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Meanwhile though, while Naruto slept without a care in the world, his best friend, Kikiok Atezuiryo, was tossing and turning in her bag; trapped in a dream that teetered on the edge of a nightmare.

She stood alone in blackness, the entire world around her nothing but a void. No sound could be heard besides her own voice that echoed when she called. No light pierced through, yet she could see just fine. Kiki didn't know where she was or how she got there, but it was a very empty place.

Except it wasn't empty.

Someone was there.

"Hee, so you're the one?" whispered a voice, full of glee and excitement. Kiki looked around, searching for the source of the whisper that echoed around her.

"Hello? Who's there?" she called.

"Won't be long now," giggled the voice, ignoring Kiki's call, "Oh boy, I can't wait!"

Kiki shivered. That voice was creepy. It wasn't evil, she knew that, but it wasn't good either. It was… different. That's the only way she could describe it.

Not good.

Not bad.

Different…

"Oh, time's up girl, but we'll meet soon!" said the voice.

With a start Kiki woke up, one hand clutching at her chest while the other held her up. She panted slightly, a light sheen of sweat coating her face.

"Oi! Get up people! We're heading back to Konoha on the double!" Goza's voice rang out, diverting Kiki's attention from her strange dream. She was slowly forgetting it though… except for that laugh.

That's something she'd never forget.

**Konoha, Mission room**

"Well, it seems your team has had quite the adventure," Hiruzen stated in amusement.

Team 7 had arrived back in Konoha early that morning and had reported straight back to the Hokage's tower. Upon meeting with the aged leader, Kakashi proceeded to retell the entire chain of events that ws the mission. Now, the team stood in front of their leader, waiting for his next orders.

"Well, you'll all be happy to know that Goza was more than pleased with your work and has granted you all with a substantial bonus," the team all grinned at this, "All in all, I'd say your mission was successful," the teens all beamed at the praise, "Now, you all seem capable, so how's about doing a couple more missions for me?" the hokage asked.

The team paled slightly at that. While they were pleased their first C-rank was a success, they weren't exactly looking forward to another mission… at least not like the one from Goza.

"Uh, if it's all the same to you Jiijii, we're not exactly up for another C-rank," Naruto spoke up with a small laugh.

Hiruzen chuckled, "Oh no, these missions will be much easier, but there are quite a bit of them," he replied, "Seems a lot of people needed help while you were away,"

They shared a glance. It's not like they couldn't handle a little extra work…. Right? "Of course Hokage-sama, what are your orders?" Kakashi asked.

Hiruzen's grin seemed to become just a little more sinister.

**One week later**

High above the ground, hidden within the leaves of a giant tree, a shadowy figure crouched. He crouched, waiting and watching for his target to make itself known. His prey was elusive, quick and actually quite dangerous.

"Kilo, in position," a voice crackled into his ear.

"Hawk, standing by," another voice crakled.

"Sierra, ready to go," came the last voice.

Kakashi nodded to himself and touched the button on his throat mike, responding, "Good work, Omega, do you have visual?"

There was silence. Kakashi frowned, trying again, "Omega, respond," he commanded. Still no response, "Omega-"

"Keep your pants on! I just found the damn thing," Omega responded, "Tango is within my sights, green light to proceed with operation?"

"Go," Kakashi ordered.

Without any further warning, a figure burst through the foliage and into the clearing. It was small, lithe and bestial, but more importantly, it was their target.

On an unspoken command, Kakashi and his students leapt from their hiding places and at their quarry. The creature was surrounded on all fronts, and capture was inevitable.

"Got him!" Naruto cried as he wrapped his hands around the elusive beast.

It was unfortunate that the animal couldn't get away.

Unfortunate for Naruto anyway.

Immediately upon being grabbed by Naruto, the animal attacked the blond, clawing and biting at the boy's face without pause. Naruto tried to keep the beast away, but, like every time before, his attempts were in vain.

"Is it the right cat?" Sakura asked as she stood back to avoid the raving feline's strikes.

"Yup, red bow and stripes," Sasuke stated, confirming the identity, "This is Tora,"

"Yay! Now we can be done and go home!" Kiki cheered. The redhead hated the cat, and it was probably the fifteenth time this week they had captured it!

"Mm, good work on catching Tora team," Kakashi congratulated them.

"Team my ass!" Naruto roared as he had finally managed to tie the cat up, "I'm the only one that catches it!" he claimed, holding up the tied cat and getting strange looks from the rest of his team.

"Uh… Naruto?" Sasuke said slowly.

"What?!" Naruto asked in annoyance. The boy was pissed beyond reason.

"Why did you tie Tora to a pentagram?" Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto blinked and looked at his captive. True enough, he had tied the cat to an iron pentagram. He frowned in thought before his face brightened up in realization.

"Echo says that demons are easily trapped by these things!" he said happily.

There was silence, then, "Naruto, it's a cat," Kiki said plainly.

"Says you!"

**Hokage's office**

"Well done Team 7, you've captured Tora once more, and this time, much faster than anyone else," Hiruzen praised.

"Whopee," Naruto muttered angrily under his breath.

Kiki elbowed her best friend, a fat fake smile on her face, "So does that mean we can go home?" Kiki asked eagerly. She was really fed up with all these 'missions' the hokage had been giving them.

Ever since they had gotten back from their first C-rank, it had been nothing but endless D-ranks! Day in and day out for a week, all they had done were the meaningless chores that somehow garnered the concern of ninja! For some reason, there never seemed to be an end to them, and the genin were nearly at the end of their ropes…

"Sorry Kiki-chan, but there's far too much to do," Sarutobi apologized with a not-so-apologetic smile, "Now then, we have painting fences, a farmer needs some help bringing in his crops, babysitting the-"

"NO!" Naruto shouted, hands up in an X formation, "I am DONE with shitty D-Ranks!" the blond complained, "If I have to do one more chore," he spat out the word like it was poison, "Then I'm killing that hell cat the next time we chase it!"

As if on cue the Daimyo's wife let out a shrill, "TORA! NOOOO!"

Naruto's eye twitched erratically. Slowly, the blond unsheathed his scythe and turned around.

"Naruto! What the heck do you think you're doing?!" Sakura demanded.

"What needs to be done," he growled back.

Immediately, Kiki tackled the boy to the ground, "Oh hell no! You are not killing that cat!" she spat as she wrestled with the blond.

"It must die!" Naruto retorted as he tried to buck her off. The two scrambled on the ground; completely ignorant of the embarrassed stares the others were sending them.

"Those two are too hyperactive for their own good," Kakashi mumbled as he turned to the hokage, "Uhm, Hokage-sama, if it's all the same to you, I think it would be best if we didn't get another D-rank," he stated lazily.

"Sensei!" Sakura asked "Aren't you going to stop those two?" she pointed to her fighting teammates.

Kakashi merely shrugged, "They need to blow off some steam anyway, just let them tucker themselves out," he said uncaringly.

"Well if not D-ranks, then what do you want me to do? The majority of them are D-rank, see?" the hokage said, showing Kakashi a box labeled 'D-RANK' that was overflowing with scrolls, "It would appear that there isn't really anything I can do,"

"What about that one?" Sasuke said as he pointed at a lonely scroll lying in the nearly empty C-rank box.

Sarutobi rubbed his chin, "You want another C-rank?" he asked.

"YES!"

Immediately, Kiki and Naruto had ceased their fighting and leapt onto the Hokage's desk, eyes begging and starry with excitement. At the moment, they were bare inches from Sarutobi's fae, and the only thing that had kept him from being surprised were his many years as a shinobi.

"Well, you certainly are qualified," Sarutobi mused, "and it's not a particularly difficult one,"

The genin on his desk grinned at the prospect, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads with excitement.

"It's really up to you Kakashi," Hiruzen shrugged, a devilish glint entering his eye when the genin flew to their sensei and latched onto Kakashi's legs.

"Please take the mission!" they both begged pitifully, wide puppy dog eyes shining up at the one eyed jounin. It was hard to imagine that just minutes ago the two of them had been complaining about missions.

Something Kakashi was well aware of.

"Hmm," Kakashi hummed, "Well it would be nice to go on a C-rank," he mused, making the teenagers latched onto his feet grin in excitement, "But you tow don't seem to really want it," he sighed.

"WHAT?!"

"Sorry, but wasn't one of you complaining about how he doesn't want to do anymore missions?" Kakashi asked, glancing down at the blond Uzumaki.

"I was just saying that about D-ranks!" Naruto whined, "Please Kakashi-sensei! I don't want to do any more chores!"

"Well Naruto a mission is a mission, but I also recall that someone just wanted to go home," here he glanced at the redhead.

"Not if it's a C-rank!" she exclaimed, "Please sensei, I promise I won't complain about D-ranks ever again if you let us go on this mission!"

"Yeah! Me too!" Naruto said eagerly.

Kakashi merely smirked to himself. _'Oh these two… so stupid!' _he all but mentally cackled, "Alright, alright, we'll take the C-rank," Kakashi 'sighed' much to the joy of the two genin at his feet who released the man and bounded back to the hokage.

"So whats the mission Jiijii!" Naruto exclaimed, Kiki nodding eagerly beside him.

The Hokage ave a short laugh before buzzing his secretary, "You can send in the client from Nami,"

A couple of seconds later, a man burst through the door, or rather, he stumbled through the door. He ended up leaning on the door frame with one hand while the other helped him down a jug of alcohol. The man was deeply tanned, had a grey beard dripping with the foul smelling liquid, wore glasses on his nose and wore a traveling hat. Currently he was eyeing his team through bloodshot and unfocused eyes.

"Thesh are the shinboi that shupposed to pr-protect me?" Tazuna slurred.

"Indeed they are," the Hokage said.

The man gave a loud belch and replied, "You've gotta be kidding me! They're nothing but brats! And whatsh with the punk and the clown?"

It took a moment for the teen's to decipher the drunkard's words, but when they did, Naruto and Sakura scowled in fury.

"Punk?" Naruto growled.

"Clown?!" Kikioko shrilled incredulously.

Slowly, the two withdrew their weapons, Naruto his scythe and Kiki two of her throwing knives. Seeing the danger, the other two genin jumped to subdue their teammates.

"Dobe, don't even think about it!" Sasuke growled as he put the blond in a half nelson.

"Then I won't! Leggo of me!" Naruto replied, swinging his scythe wildly towards the drunkard.

"Kiki! You're better than this!" Sakura said as she struggled to keep the redhead from skewering the client.

"No one makes fun of my looks and gets away with it!" Kiki shrieked.

Needless to say the drunk was a little disturbed by their actions. As well as a little terrified. It would be best if he didn't anger the punk and clown.

Kakashi merely ignored his students, "Nevermind those two sir, they're just a little… stressed,: Kakashi said with an eye smile, "We may not look it, but these 'brats' have actually already completed a C-rank, and if anything does go wrong, I'm a jounin, so you'll be fine,"

The old man grunted, "I better be," he mumbled. Inhaling, the man suddenly shouted, "All right you brats! My name's Tazuna, the super bridge builder!" he declared jabbing a thumb at himself, "And your mission is to protect me!"

**A/N: And stop! Agh, so long since I've done this… stupid school… Anyway, leave a review if you want it to keep going!**


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